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The  RALPH  D.  REED  LIBRARY 


DEPARTMKNT  OK  GEOLOGY 

UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA 

I-OS  ANGKLJSS,   CALIF. 


Die  ^Vlaska  (ommcf  cialtk 

San  Francisco,  Cal. 


♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦•♦•♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦- 

I  PACIFIC     DEPARTMENT  t 

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! London  and  Lancashire! 


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Fire  Insurance  Co. 


LIVERPOOL,  ENGLAND. 


San  Francisco  Office, 


315  Montgomery  St. 


WM.    MACDONALD,  Manager. 
D.  E.  MILES,  Assistant  Manager. 


CASH 
ASSETS, 

»5'&43'5<>5- 


ASSETS  IN 

U.S., 

2,720,f)I4. 


EVERETT    &    CO.,   Agents, 

224  Chamber  of  Commerce, 

Portland,  Oregon. 


BURNS  &  ATKINSON,  Agents, 
Seattle,  Wash. 


WALTER    J.   BALL,  Agent, 
Tacoma,  Wash. 


SAM.  B.  STOY,  Special  Agent, 

226   Chamber  of  Commerce, 

Portland,  Oregon. 


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+  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  + +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  4.  +  ++ +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +++  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  +  + 


AGENCIES   IN    ALL  THE   PRINCIPAL  TOWNS 
ON   THE   PACIFIC   COAST. 


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LETTERS  OF  CREDIT  will  be  issued  on 

all  of  our  principal  Stations 

on  the  Yukon  River. 


For  Particulars,  Apply  to 

Alaska  Commercial  Go- 

310  Sansome  St.,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


ALASKA 
COMMERCIAL 
COMPANY 


INCORPORATED  IN  SEPTEMBER.  1868. 


*1595* 


TO     THE 


KLONDIKE 
^GOLD 


FIELDS 


AND 


Other  Points  of  Interest  in  Alaska- 

GENERAL    OFFICE: 

310  SANSOME  STREET,  -      -      -    SAN  ERANCISCO,  CAL. 

Copyrighted,  iv 


INTRODUCTION. 


The  phenomenally  rich  gold 
discoveries  that  have  been 
made  recently  on  the  Yukon 
River  and  its  tributaries  have 
turned  the  eyes  of  the  civilized  world  toward  Alaska.  Men  who 
had  toiled  steadily  and  painfully  throughout  their  lives  to  secure 
a  bare  existence,  to  whom  luxuries  were  unknown  and  a  life  of  labor 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY'S  STORE  AT  CIRCLE  CITY. 

was  all  they  had  to  look  forward  to,  had  gone  there  and  in  a  few 
months  amassed  fortunes  that  rendered  them  independent  for  life. 
For  years  Alaska  has  been  looked  upon  as  merely  a  land  for  the 
tourist  and  the  pleasure  seeker.  Its  glaciers  and  its  mountains,  its 
wealth  of  scenery  that  cannot  be  equaled  elsewhere  in  the  world, 
rendered  it  a  wonderland  that  filled  the  beholder  with  admiration 
of  its  beauty  and  grandeur.  To-day  Alaska  is  the  Mecca  for  the 
fortune  seeker.     When  the  "Excelsior"  steamed  into  the  harbor  of 


t 
THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


San  Francisco  bringing  nearl)  one  million  dollars  in  gold  that  had 
been  wrested  from  the  streams  of  the  Klondike  country,  it  inaugu- 
rated an  exodus  without  parallel  in  the  annals  of  history.  Though 
the  hardy  adventurers  who  flocked  there  were  numbered  by 
thousands,  many  decided  to  await  the  coming  of  spring  before 
undertaking-  the  journey.     The  short  Alaskan  summer  was  already 


OLD   RUSSIAN    FORT    \T  ST.   MICHAEL. 

far   advanced,   and    only    the   most   venturesome    were    willing   to 

encounter  the  rigors  of  the  Arctic  winter. 

®@  Throughout  the  countr  y 
there  is  a  demand  for  in- 
formation concerning  this 
new  land  of  promise.     The 

man  who  would  go  there  hoping,  by  a  few  years  of  labor,  to  place 

himself  beyond  the  possibility  of  want,  desires  to   know   how  to 


.'570821 


4  THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 

reach  the  gold  fields,  what  preparations  to  make  for  the  journey, 
and  what  conditions  he  will  find  when  he  gets  there.  The  Alaska 
Commercial  Company  has  been  a  pioneer  in  the  exploration  of  this 
country.  When,  to  the  popular  mind,  Alaska  was  little  more  than 
a  name,  agents  of  the  company  were  pushing  across  its  trackless 
fields  of  ice,  navigating  the  torrential  rivers,  and  investigating  its 
limitless  resources.  The  company  has  thus  accumulated  a  vast  store 
of  information,  and  is  eminently  qualified  to  advise  and  suggest  to 
the  prospective  fortune  seeker  who  thinks  of  making  his  home  in 
the  frozen  North.  With  a  view  to  making  this  information  avail- 
able to  those  who  are  contemplating  the  trip  this  little  book  has 
been  prepared.  A  perusal  of  its  pages  will  enable  them  to  guard 
against  the  trials  and  hardships  that  are  inevitable  on  such  a 
journey. 

®(i&g)®s®®®!d$^^  The    information    that    will 

I  a        tm  ^%*.   tma.+^4.*.*.+*.  §      be  found  most  valuable  is 

presented  in  the  following 
pages.  There  are  two 
points,  however,  that  deserve  special  emphasis.  A  large  city  offers 
advantages  in  outfitting  for  so  extensive  and  so  peculiar  a  journey 
that  cannot  be  found  elsewhere.  San  Francisco  offers  such 
advantages.  It  is  the  metropolis  of  the  Pacific  Coast.  Its  stores 
present  the  greatest  variety  of  goods  from  which  to  select.  The 
large  volume  of  business  transacted  enables  the  merchants  to  sell 
at  a  lower  price  than  would  be  possible  in  a  smaller  community. 
Goods  can  be  shipped  from  this  point  to  greater  advantage  than 
elsewhere.  In  this  connection  we  would  recommend  the  firms 
whose  goods  and  facilities  are  mentioned  in  this  book.  Their  goods 
have  been  tried  and  tested  fully  in  Alaska,  after  much  competition, 
and  have  been  proved  the  best  obtainable.  As  San  Francisco  is  the 
principal  city  and  commercial  center  of  this  coast  it  is  naturally  to 
the  interest  of  any  intending  traveler  to  start  from  this  point. 
®®®®®&&£^^  Again,    the    time    that   intervenes    be- 

ll ttahte  Af  th&  f/itv  $  tween  arrival  in  this  city  and  the  de- 
parture of  the  steamer  can  be  pleasantly 
employed  in  sight-seeing  that  involves 
very  little  expense.  San  Francisco  has  a  great  variety  of  points 
of  interest  that  are  peculiar  to  this  far  Western  city.  The  cable  and 
electric  car  lines,  climbing  the  many  hills  in  all  directions  present 
ever-changing  views  of  the  city  and  the  bay,  one  of  the  most  beauti- 
ful in  the  world.  The  street  car  lines  of  San  Francisco  are  patronized 
by  those  riding  simply  for  pleasure  to  a  greater  extent  than  those 
of  any  other  city  in  the  world.    To  the  western  part  of  the  penin- 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY  5 

sula  steamcar  lines  skirt  along  the  cliffs  on  the  shores  of  the 
Golden  Gate  and  Pacific  Ocean,  and  carry  their  passengers  to  tin- 
Cliff  Honse,  with  its  views  of  the  world-famed  Seal  Rocks,  to  Sutro 
Heights,  and  the  baths  fed  by  the  waters  of  the  ocean  and  contain- 
ing the  largest  swimming  tanks  under  cover  in  the  world.  The 
•Golden  Gate  Park,  with  its  concert  valley,  its  museum,  its  conserva- 
tories, and  its  children's  playground,  the  United  States  Branch 
Mint,  the  mineral  collection  of  the  State  Mining  llureau,  ( "hinatown. 
where  the  life  of  the  Orient  is  seen  in  the  heart  of  the  city,  and 
surrounded  on  all  sides  by  the  evidences  of  Western  civilization,  the 
cheap  theaters — all  these,  and  many  other  features  offer  inexpensive 
amusement  for  the  traveler  whose  time  hangs  heavily  on  his  hands. 
2S®(!XS(5Xs)S^^  Furthermore  the  transpor- 

4>«*m«ma»h«Uh   t  *<»iii*u*  ffi  tation  facilities  and  arrange- 

transportation  facilities  jj  mcnts  for  the  shipment°of 

!X5X5)®®®(sX5)®(jX«^  freight  are  unexcelled,  and 

these  are  considerations  of  the  utmost  importance  to  travelers.  A 
sea  voyage  covering  thousands  of  miles,  and  occupying  thirty  or 
more  days,  is  filled  with  inconveniences  and  hardships  unless  every- 
thing is  done  by  the  steamship  company  to  insure  the  comfort  of  its 
guests.  For  the  transportation  of  passengers  and  freight  the  Alaska 
Commercial  Company  has  its  own  fleet  of  steamships,  specially 
equipped  for  the  Northern  trip.  Included  among  these  are  the  steel 
steamship  "St.  Paul,"  recently  built  for  the  company,  the  "Bertha" 
and  the  "Dora."  These  vessels  are  all  staunch  and  seaworthy,  and 
have  been  equipped  with  all  the  modern  conveniences  for  the 
comfort  of  passengers.  Information  as  to  their  cabin  plans,  the 
rates  of  fare  and  the  charges  for  freight  will  be  found  elsewhere  in 
this  book.  The  rush  to  the  North  when  the  warm  springtime  comes 
will  be  enormous,  and  hence  it  is  important  that  arrangements  for 
transportation  and  the  shipment  of  goods  and  supplies  should  be 
made  as  early  as  possible. 

^(sX?®®<5X^)SX^X^X5)(^XJX^:®    ^n  *-ms  book  we  have,  in  as 
clear  and  distinct  a  manner  as 
possible,  described  every  fea- 
feX5)®(^®®®^^  ture  of  all  the  Alaskan 'trips, 

and  every  detail  has  been  verified  by  our  agents  and  members 
of  the  company  who  have  had  a  direct  personal  knowledge  of  the 
entire  Alaskan  territory.  Again  urging  the  advantages  of  making 
San  Francisco  the  point  of  departure,  we  commend  this  book 
to  the  public. 


Depart  from  San  Trancisco  | 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY. 


A   Brief   History   of  the  Great  Pioneer   Commercial   and 
Transportation  Institution. 

a®®®®®&^^  Alaska  was  purchased  from  Rus- 

1    Ani/iiH  Af   tU*    #7a«mm*mii   I    sia  hy  the  United  States  in    l867- 

J  Even  prior  to  this  time  the  Alaska 

®®®®®  Commercial  Company  had  repre- 
sentatives there  securing  information  regarding  the  country.  In 
1867  the  Company  bought  out  the  Russian-American  Company  that 
had  been  engaged  in  trading  for  many  years.  The  Pribyloff  Islands 
were  leased  to  the  Company  for  twenty  years  from  May  I,  1870, 
under  an  Act  of  Congress,  approved  July  1,  1870.  The  annual 
rental  paid  was  $55,000,  with  a  tax  of  $2.62  on  each  sealskin  taken, 
making  the  total  rental  $317,000.00  per  annum.    It  will  thus  be  seen 


WHARF  AND  WAREHOUSES  AT  ST.  MICHAEL. 

that  the  Company  has  paid  nearly  seven  million  dollars  in  rentals  to 
the  United  States. 

They  established  stations  at  all  the  principal  points  in  Alaska 
during  1868  and  1869,  and  had  a  passenger  and  freight  boat  running 
on  the  Yukon  River  in  1869.  The  Company  has  been  engaged  act- 
ively in  business  for  nearly  thirty  years,  consequently,  owing  to  this 
long  continued  occupation  of  territory,  it  possesses  advantages  of 
a  superior  character  in  connection  with  everything  relating  to 
Alaska.  It  has  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  style  and  quality  of 
provisions  and  clothing  best  suited  to  the  needs  of  the  country.  Its 
facilities  for  the  transportation  of  passengers  and  freight  are  unex- 
celled. It  has  the  advantages  of  having  a  plant  already  established 
and  vessels  on  the  river  ready  to  proceed  to  the  Klondike  district  as 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY  7 

soon  as  the  riwr  opens.  Wood  piles  are  already  sta<  k<  d  al  coi 
nient  points  on  the  river,  and,  therefore,  passengers  traveling  on  its 
steamers  will  not  be  subject  t<>  the  delays  and  trouble  thai  will  be 
attendant  upon  people  who  have  not  taken  time  b)  the  forelock,  and, 
so,  thoughtfully  provided  themselves  with  fuel,  which  is,  of  course, 
the  great  essential  of  the  river  trip.  The  reputation  of  the  Company 
for  taking  proper  care  of  passengers  is  so  well  established  that  com- 
ment is  unnecessary.  The  steamers  of  the  Company  are  Eas1  and 
commodious,  and  are  equipped  with  everything  necessary  for  the 
comfort  of  passengers.  The  Company  takes  justifiable  pride  in 
referring  to  its  successful  business  career,  and  particularly  to  the 
fact  that  since  it  first  engaged  in  the  transportation  business  in  1869 
there  has  not  been  one  case  of  a  loss  of  life.  The  captains  of  their 
steamers  have  been  on  the  river  for  many  years  and  are  thoroughly 
acquainted  with  the  dangers  and  difficulties  of  navigation.  In  this 
respect  it  will  be  seen  that  passengers  have  a  perfect  guarantee  of 
safety. 


sS^~: 


NATIVK   HorSKS   AND   <\.    HE. 


The  Company's  reputation  for  integ- 
rity and  fair  dealing  is  known  practi- 

lt$  hip  imputation  1    cally  the  world  over>  and  its  word  in 

)SX5®®®(sXS®®(5^^  any  business  transaction  is  as  good  as 

its  bond.  Passengers  traveling  to  the  Klondike  will  find  it  to  their  best 
interests  to  go  there  under  the  auspices  of  the  Alaska  Commercial 
Company  and  they  will  be  sure  of  making  the  trip  without  danger 
or  discomfort.  They  have  a  full  and  accurate  knowledge  of  the 
country  and  its  peculiar  features — a  knowledge  not  possessed  by 
any  other  company,  and  which  could  only  be  acquired  by  years  of 
direct  experience  and  the  expenditure  of  large  sums  of  money. 

As  an  illustration  of  the  fact  that  the  Alaska  Commercial  Com- 
pany was  interested  in  the  development  of  Alaskan  mines  more  than 
twenty  years  ago,  the  following  letter  is  appended.  The  letter  was  a 
portion  of  the  evidence  furnished  in  the  investigation  of  the  fur-seal 


8  THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 

fisheries  of  Alaska  by  the  House  of  Representatives  in  January,  1889. 
It  also  ably  illustrates  the  honorable  policy  that  has  characterized 
the  Company  in  its  dealings  with  its  patrons: 

San  Francisco,  May  7,  1886. 
Mr.  M.  Lor  ens,  Agent,  St.  Michael,  Alaska. 

Dear  Sir:     We  have  been  informed  that  a  large  number  of 
0(5Xg®®®®®®€^^  miners    have    already    started    for    the 

n  n      M*  r*tf*t»  I       Yukon  and  Stewart  River  mines,  and  it 
I  Jl    nOtaPlC  LCUCr  (       is   probable   that   many   others  will   be 
|j®(5XS)®®®®(i^  attracted  to  that  section  of  the  Territory 

in  consequence  of  the  supposed  existence  of  rich  diggings  in  that 
district.  Considering  that  the  Company's  station  at  St.  Michael  is 
the  nearest  source  of  supply,  an  extra  amount  of  groceries  and  pro- 
visions have  been  sent  to  you  to  meet  the  possible  demands  likely 
to  be  made  upon  you  during  the  coming  winter.  It  must  not  be 
understood,  however,  that  the  shipment  referred  to  is  made  for  the 
purpose  of  realizing  profits  beyond  the  regular  schedule  of  prices 
heretofore  established;  our  object  is  to  simply  avoid  any  possible 
suffering  which  the  large  increase  of  population,  insufficiently  pro- 
vided with  articles  of  food,  might  occasion.  Hence  you  are  directed 
to  store  the  supplies  as  a  reserve  to  meet  the  probable  contingency 
herein  indicated,  and  in  that  case  to  dispose  of  the  same  to  actual 
customers  only,  and  in  such  quantities  as  will  enable  you  to  relieve 
the  wants  and  necessities  of  each  and  every  person  that  may  have 
occasion  to  ask  for  it. 

In  this  connection  we  deem  it  particularly  necessary  to  say  to 
you  that  traders  in  the  employ  of  the  Company,  or  such  others  as 
draw  their  supplies  from  the  stores  of  the  Company,  doing  business 
on  their  own  account,  must  not  be  permitted  to  charge  excessive 
profits;  otherwise  all  business  relations  with  such  parties  must 
cease,  as  the  Company  cannot  permit  itself  to  be  made  an  instrument 
of  oppression  toward  any  one  that  they  may  come  in  contact  with. 

It  is  useless  to  add  that  in  case  of  absolute  poverty  and  want  the 
person  or  persons  placed  in  that  unfortunate  position  should  be 
promptly  furnished  with  the  means  of  subsistence  without  pay, 
simply  reporting  such  facts  at  your  earliest  convenience  to  the  home 
office. 

Asking  your  strict  compliance  with  the  foregoing  instructions, 
which  we  hope  will  be  carried  out  with  due  discretion  on  your  part, 
I  am,  with  kind  regards  to  yourself  and  Mrs.  Lorenz, 

Yours  truly, 

Lewis  Gerstle,  President. 


For    any    information    regarding    the    Yukon     and 
Klondike  districts,  apply  to  the 

ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY, 

310  Sansome  Street,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


THE  COMPANY'S  STEAMSHIPS. 


A  Concise  Description   of  the  Fleet   of  Steamers  Owned 
and  Operated  by  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company. 

Of  the  transportation  companies  operat- 
ing between  San  Francisco  and  the 
Klondike  gold  fields,  the  one  that  is 
most  widely  and  favorably  known  is  the 
pioneer  line — The  Alaska  Commercial  Company.  The  length 
of  its  time  of  service,  extending  over  a  period  of  almost  three 
decades,  has  given  to  it  an  experience  that  is  not  possessed  by  anv 
other  company.  As  time  has  rolled  on  the  Company  has  steadilv 
advanced  in  its  carrying  capacity  until  now  its  fleet  of  vessels  is 
almost  irreproachable.  The  knowledge  gained  by  years  of  travel  on 
the  Pacific  Ocean  and  the  great  Yukon  River,  has  been  of  great 
value  to  the  Company,  and  it  is  now  prepared  to  give  to  its  patrons 
the  best  possible  service.  The  captains  of  the  vessels  and  all  of  the 
other  officers  have  been  in  the  employ  of  the  Company  for  many 
years  and  fully  understand  everything  necessary  for  the  safe  and 
speedy  transportation  and  the  comfort  of  passengers. 

~~~~~~~~~~~^~~.-^      The  latest  acquisition  of  the  Com- 
®    pany  is  the  magnificent  new  steel 
$tCait1$bip   "  $t.  PaUl '       \   steamship   "St.   Paul,"  which   has 

been  constructed  by  the  Union 
Iron  Works,  of  San  Francisco,  and  that  fact  alone  is  direct  evidence 
of  its  superiority.  The  Union  Iron  Works  had  practically  carte 
blanche  regarding  the  building  and  equipment  of  this  vessel,  and 
every  feature  of  the  most  modern  plans  of  marine  architecture  has 
been  introduced.  The  steamship  is  two  hundred  and  eighty-eight 
feet  long,  with  a  thirty-eight-foot  beam,  and  has  accommodations 
for  two  hundred  and  fifty-seven  first-class  cabin  passengers.  Its 
register  is  twenty-five  hundred  tons  and  its  horse  power  eighteen 
hundred  and  fifty.  Its  staterooms  are  all  commodious,  well  venti- 
lated and  lighted  and  are  furnished  with  only  fore  and  aft  bunks. 
The  rooms  are  fully  equal  in  luxury  and  in  size  to  many  of  the  great 
Atlantic  liners  and  in  them  one  can  easily  believe  himself  to  be  in  a 
hotel  instead  of  at  sea.  The  decorations  are  artistic  in  soft,  yet  rich 
effects,  and  the  conveniences  for  the  bestowal  of  the  passengers' 


IO 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


belongings  are  most  ingenious.  There  are  electric  lights  every- 
where and  electric  bells  for  the  summoning  of  attendants  at  a 
moment's  notice.  There  is  also  a  saloon  and  a  smoking  room  fitted 
with  lounges  and  easy  chairs  for  the  comfort  of  passengers.  Though 
not  exactly  following  the  well-known  remark  of  James  Russell 
Lowell,  "Give  me  the  luxuries  of  life  and  I  will  dispense  with  the 
necessaries,"  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company  has  made  a  most 
happy  combination  of  both  of  these  features,  and,  in  providing  prop- 
erly for  the  comfort  of  its  patrons,  it  will  feel  confident  of  their 
unqualified  approbation.  Believing  that  cleanliness  is  akin  to  godli- 
ness, the  Company  has  supplied  a  plentitude  of  bath-rooms,  with 
porcelain  tubs,  and  hot  and  cold  water  will  be  ready  at  all  hours.   A 


rt 


_inmniM 


THE   YUKON    STEAMER       I,<  >UISE. 


notable  feature  of  the  vessel  is  its  cold-storage  rooms,  which  enables 
the  Company  to  carry  fresh  meats,  fruits  and  vegetables  for  the 
entire  round  trip. 

The  "Portland"  is  another  one  of 
the  Company's  steamships.  It  is  a 
wooden  vessel,  of  fifteen  hundred 
tons  gross,  and  it  has  been  entirely 
rebuilt  and  refitted  and  is  in  first-class  condition.  All  of  the  state- 
rooms are  new  and    the    equipments,  in  every  particular,  are  the 


|  Steamship  "Portland" 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


same  as  those  on  the  "St.  Paul."  Its  passenger  accommodations  in 
every  way  are  unexcelled  and  exceed  those  of  an)  vessel  of  any 
other  line.  The  steamer  is  staunch  and  seaworth)  and  will  be  under 
the  command  of  one  of  the  Company's  mosl  experiem  ed  captains. 

The  well-known  steamers  the  "Dora"  and  the  "Bertha"  have 
also  been  thoroughly  refitted  and  equipped  in  fir  I  style  and 

will  be  used  on  the  ocean  voyage  as  they  have  in  years  p 

The  fleet  of  river  boats  used  on  the 
Yukon  is  a  matter  of  pride  to  the  <  !om- 
pany  as  their  construction  is  the  result 
of  years  of  experiments  and  practical 
experience  in  transportation.     They  are  all  commanded  by  officers 


X 


*"£*■■? 


A   REPRESENTATION   or  THE   NEW    STJKOH    STEAMERS   "SARAH,"   "HANNAH" 

\\l>   '■  srslK." 

who  have  had  years  of  experience  in  navigating  the  river  and  are 
thoroughly  acquainted  with  whatever  dangers  and  difficulties  that 
may  exist.  The  steamers  that  are  now  ready  for  the  Yukon  River 
trade  are  the  Alice,  the  Bella,  the  Margaret,  the  Yukon,  the  W. 
H.  Seward,  the  Saidie,  a  new  steel  side- wheeler,  the  Leah,  new. 
the  Sarah,  new,  the  Hannah,  new,  the  Susie,  new,  and  the  Louise, 

new. 

These  vessels  are  all  thoroughly  fitted  in  first-class  style  for  the 
transportation  of  passengers  in  the  best  possible  manner,  possessing 
every  equipment  that  the  necessities  of  such  a  trip  require. 


12 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


^®®®®(i)®®®®®®(s:@  The  care  of  the  inner  man  is  one  feature  not 
to  be  overlooked.  In  this  respect  the  Alaska 
Commercial  Company  has  spared  no  expense 
in  furnishing  the  best  culinary  artists  and  in 
providing  an  exceptionally  good  and  liberal  table.  Through  its 
system  of  cold  storage,  fresh  meats,  vegetables  and  fruits  are  sup- 
plied daily,  which  is  a  feature  that  should  be  appreciated  by 
passengers. 


THE  STEAMER  "  AT,TCE." 


THE  SHADE  DECK  OF  THE  STEAMSHIP  "ST.  PAUL.  ' 


'  Jp, 


o 


") 


UJ 


50000    |D  3    » 

SIS" 

ooooo  O  C>  ^ 

— I2?^ 


■=! 


Effi 


Ed 


TO  THE  KLONDIKE  GOLD  FIELDS. 


A  Graphic  Description  of  a  Trip  to  the  Rich  Arctic 
Ophir.  Together  with  Much  Historical  Data  of  an 
Interesting  Character  Relative  to  the  Yukon  District 
and  Alaskan  Points  in  General. 

}S®®®&&^^  To   those   who   intend   try'mS  in   the 

Ka    for  tho  Klondike  I  i      *ar    Klondike   land   their   hazard   of 

great  fortunes,  any  words  that  will 
make  the  way  easier  and  the  burden 
lighter  will  not  come  amiss.  In  the  line  of  such  information  is  the 
story  of  the  trip  from  San  Francisco  to  the  lands  of  gold  by  way  of 
the  Alaska  Commercial  Company's  swift  new  steamers. 


ST.  MICHAEL  AND  THE  STEAMER  "ARCTIC." 


Terrors  of  the  tales  of  the  Chilcoot  Pass  and  of  the  dread  Ska- 
guay  Trail  are  fresh  in  the  minds  of  all.  The  illustrated  journals 
have  pictured  the  paths  littered  by  dead  and  dying  horses;  the 
fearsome,  frozen  summits;  the  disheartening  bogs. 

Those  who  have  turned  back  have  talked  of  blizzards  that  man 
could  not  face;  of  steeps  he  could  not  climb;  of  discouragement, 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY  15 


T\  Pleasure  Crip 


despair,  and  the  loss  of  all  supplies.  When  the  words  of  warning 
come  from  lips  eloquent  with  suffering-,  there  comes  also  the 
admonishment,  "Try  not  the  Pass." 

1  Then  is  there  no  kindlier  way?  Cannot  fortune  be  secured 
without  facing  these  dreadful  dangers  that  lurk  in  every  footstep? 
Must  a  man  put  his  life  at  stake  with  every  mile  of  advancement? 
Is  there  no  way  of  avoiding  the  blizzard,  the  quagmire,  the  awful 
rapids,  the  sudden  floods,  the  avalanche  and  the  famine  of  the  trails? 

There  is.  A  man  may  reach  the  gold 
fields  of  the  Yukon  without  the  faintest 
trace  of  hardship,  making  a  journey 
which  is  all  a  pleasure,  an  ocean  voyage 
over  summer  seas;  a  river  journey  in  which  each  succeeding  vista 
is  a  greater  delight.  Before  long  this  will  be  one  of  the  most  attrac- 
tive excursions  for  the  pleasure-loving  tourist  and  the  globe  trotter 
who  seeks  for  lands  and  peoples  of  exceptional  interest.  Yet  just 
such  an  excursion  will  bring  the  treasure  seeker  to  the  place  of  his 
heart's  desire. 

To  one  who  goes  this  way  warmth  and  comfort  and  the  delights 
of  the  table  are  assured.  There  will  be  no  sudden  pitching  of  tents 
in  dark  morasses  when  the  night  comes  on.  No  thieves  will  lurk 
along  the  way.  No  storms  of  sleet  and  snow  will  bellow  down  the 
gulches  to  freeze  the  hands  and  feet  and  make  the  battle  for  life  itself 
desperate,  uncertain  and  full  of  fear. 

Instead  of  the  smoky  camp  fire  fitfully  flickering  in  the  storm 
will  be  the  warmth  and  light  of  steamer  cabins.  Clean  linen  and  soft 
beds  will  take  the  place  of  damp  blankets  thrown  upon  the  frozen 
ground.  Well-served  tables  will  glad  the  eye  and  lure  the  palate 
instead  of  scanty  rations  half  cooked  upon  the  sodden  coals. 

Yet  both  ways  have  the  same  end.  Both  lead  to  Dawson  and 
the  mines.  So  why  try  the  hardships,  the  risks  and  dangers  of  the 
passes  and  the  trails,  when  the  same  result  may  be  attained  in  easy 
enjoyment,  without  danger  or  delay? 

•XsXjXsXsXsXsXsXsXS)®      The  object  of  this  sketch,  by  one 
who    has    made    the    journey,    is 
merely  to  tell  something  of  what 
)®®®®(»x»)®®®(^^  is  to  be  seen.     The  facts  that  the 

Alaska  Commercial  Company  was  the  pioneer  in  Alaskan  traffic; 
that  its  steamers  have  never  met  with  serious  accident  since  it 
began  to  do  business  in  the  northland,  thirty  years  ago;  that  experi- 
ence has  taught.it  what  to  do  and  how  to  do  it,  are  all  guarantees 
of  safety,  certainty  and  dispatch.  No  other  company  has  had  the 
same  experience;  none  is  so  well  equipped  for  the  business  in  hand. 


i6 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


,®®®®(sxs)®(sX?X5^^  The  start  from  San  Francisco  is  in 

from  San  franclsco      itsuelf  s°mething  ^  charm  those  to 

®  whom  the  scenic  glories  of  the  great 
California  harbor  have  not  become 
familiar.  The  big,  new  steamers  go  churning  out  through  the 
Golden  Gate,  that  romantic  doorway  which  opened  upon  the  golden 
placers  of  California  in  the  days  when  men  sought  and  found  fortune 
there  just  as  they  now  seek  and  find  in  the  Yukon's  wondrous  tribu- 
taries. 

On  either  hand  frown  the  bastions,  the  scarps  and  buttresses 
of  war.     Here  are  mounted  the  great  dynamite  guns,  the  many 


\ 

i  JPHHhM 

1 

_,*«'-        -w,«, 

».. ^Tetidi'' i   » 

— • 

1 

■mBP^ 

it  •*=•/■ 

1  - 

THE  HARBOR  OF  UNGA. 


Beauties  of  the  Bay 


mortars,  and  the  big  thirteen-inch  rifles  which  could  sink  a  ship 
twelve  miles  away. 

®@  The  crags  and  cliffs  upon  the  right  of 
the  Gate  give  back  upon  Mount 
Tamalpais,  which  looms  in  purple 
grandeur,  lifting  its  head  over  3,000 
feet  above  the  hamlets  and  dotted  chateaux  around  its  base.  To  the 
left  is  old  Fort  Point,  mossy  and  scarred  by  the  spindrift,  and 
still  beyond  this  war  lord  of  the  past  jut  those  rocks  where  herds 
of  sea  lions  come  continually  to  bask  and  bark  and  roar. 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COM  TAW 


17 


With  a  glimpse  on  one  hand  of  the  bay  where  Sir   Francis 

Drake  moored  his  ships  in  the  Ion-  ago,  and  on  tin-  other  of  the 
Farallones  de  los  Freyres,  the  island  "lighthouses  of  the  brothi 
which  served  as  a  landfall  for  the  early  Spanish  navigators,  the 
steamer  makes  for  the  open  sea.  With  the  Californian  roast  once 
lost  to  the  eye,  there  will  be  no  other  land  to  see  until  the  wild 
beauties  of  the  Aleutian  Islands  burst  upon  the  view. 

The  long  sea  trip  is,  however, 
not    without    its    charm.      The 

Unarms 


the  calm  surface. 


ocean  is  full  of  life.   Great  whales 
spont    and   sport    upon   or   near 
Frequently  the  steamers  pass  close  to  large  num- 


C1RCLE  CITY. 

bers  of  them.  Schools  of  porpoises  play  about  the  bow.  Occasion- 
ally the  swift  fin  of  a  shark  skims  darkly  along.  Big  sea  birds  follow 
in  the  steamer's  wake,  dipping  for  the  crusts  and  scraps  thrown  to 
them.  Now  and  then  a  sail  is  seen,  and  perhaps  one  of  the  heavy 
ocean  liners  on  the  run  to  China  and  Japan  speeds  across  the  path. 
On  board  there  are  comfortable  cabins  and  a  well-stocked  larder, 
and  everything  will  be  done  to  speed  the  time  and  make  the  voyage 
one  to  be  remembered  with  a  feeling  of  regret  that  it  is  over. 

Then  come  the  "Fire-breathing  Islands"  of  the  long  Aleutian 
chain.  And  here  is  scenic  grandeur,  which,  when  it  is  better  known. 
will  charm  the  wonder-loving  world. 


18 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


Some  of  the  Uolcanoes 


€@  The  volcano  Makushin  is  on  Un- 
alaska  Island,  Shishaldin  and  Og- 
romni  on  Unimak,  Akutan  on  the 
island  of  the  same  name,  and  Pav- 
loff  on  the  Alaskan  Peninsula.  All  may  be  seen  smoking,  belching 
or  glowing  if  the  landfall  is  plain  or  the  nights  are  clear. 


A   TYni'AL   ESKIMO   AND   HIS  DOG. 


Through  a  narrow  pass  between  the  green-cliffed  islands,  and 
passing  the  commanding  figure  of  "The  Priest,"  a  picturesque  rem- 
nant of  a  grand  pinnacle,  the  entrance  of  Unalaska  Harbor  is 
reached.  This  is  one  of  the  most  beautiful  of  bays.  A  shimmering 
fjord  makes  up  between  overhanging  cliffs,  the  rock  strata  of  which 
show  by  their  weirdly  disrupted  markings  the  volcanic  lift  which 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COM  TAX  Y 


*9 


threw  them  up  into  the  glimpses  of  the  sun.  The  hay  then  broadens 
and  includes  within  its  waters  small,  green  islands-  islands  within 
an  island,  pearls  within  the  shell.  Exploration  Island,  Mug  Island 
and  Amaknak  are  the  names  of  these,  showing  the  difference  in 
poetic  temperament  of  those  who  named  them.  Beautiful  wild 
flowers  spangle  all  the  hills,  the  violets  being  especially  remarkable 


HAULING   UP  THE  MOOSE  ABOVE  CIRCLE  CITY. 

for  their  abundance  and  exceptional  size.  Up  the  pleasant  Glacier 
Valley,  through  which  runs  a  stream  famous  for  its  trout  fishing, 
the  mountain  climber  who  seeks  the  summit  of  smoky  Makushin 
will  come  upon  the  remnants  of  a  glacier,  with  its  ceaseless,  imper- 
ceptible motion,  and  its  suggestions  of  how  gold  may  have  been 


20 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


worn  from  the  rock  and  deposited  in  the  gulches  in  the  time  when 
all  the  world  was  ice. 

Few  people  appreciate  the  fact  that  Unalaska, 
Ht  JlttAl/Klt/i  (  *-he  ancien^  settlement  that  nestles  on  the  bay, 
is  farther  west  than  Honolulu.  Though  part 
of  the  United  States,  it  is  more  foreign  than 
the  islands  of  the  Hawaiians.  The  Russian  church  lifts  its  minarets 
as  the  most  notable  structure  in  the  village.  The  Russian  language 
falls  from  the  tongues  of  the  older  Indians — the  active  little  Aleuts 
who  seem  part  Eskimo  and  part  Japanese,  and  form  a  link  between 
the  two  races, — and  in  making  the  change  of  commercial  trans- 


FORTY  MILE  POST. 


actions  the  dollar  of  Uncle  Sam  has  to  be  reckoned  in  the  rouble  of 
the  Great  White  Tsar.  The  samovar  is  beside  the  hearthstone,  and 
some  beautiful  specimens  of  Russian  crockery  and  earthenware  may 
be  found  in  the  stores  and  warehouses — truly  delicate  and  artistic 
specimens  of  the  potter's  craft. 

For  it  was  the  Russians  who  first  came 
upon  Unalaska.  It  was  the  adventur- 
ous Alexei  Chirikof,  lieutenant  and 
rival  of  Vitus  Bering,  who,  on  Septem- 
ber 4,  1741,  in  the  days  of  Peter  the  Great,  discovered  the  island  and 
gave  to  it  a  name.    The  Russians  had  a  dominating  settlement 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COM  LAW 


21 


Che  Company's  Beginning 


at  Unalaska  long  before  Cook  dropped  into  the  harbor  in  1778. 
This  settlement  was  named  llliuliuk,  and  the  quaint  old  town  on  the 
beautiful  Unalaska  Bay  bears  this  musical  Indian  name  even  to 
this  day. 

The  Russians  turned  over  all 
Alaska  to  the  United  States  for 
$7,200,000,  on  June  20,  1867, 
and  on  January  4,  1868,  two 
days  before  the  Russian  Christmas,  Captain  ( i.  Niebaum,  of  the 
Alaska  Commercial  Company,  sailed  into  the  bay  at  Unalaska, 
established  a  post,  and  began  the  business  which  has  continued  ever 
since.  Here  has  been  the  center  of  the  fur-gathering  industry,  and 
here  it  still  remains.  On  the  islands  far  and  near,  as  Kipling  puts  it, 
"the  little  blue  fox  he  is  bred  for  his  skin  and  the  seals  they  breed 
for  themselves."  Here  come  the  diminishing  catches  of  the  sea 
otter,  dozens  being  taken  where  thousands  once  were  captured. 
Walrus  tusks,  for  ivory,  and  all  the  valuable  skins  still  grace  the 
company's  warehouses,  and  the  curios  brought  in  by  the  natives  are 
a  delight  to  the  eye  of  the  collector. 

The  Jessie  Lee  Home  and  the  Gov- 
ernment School  offer  examples  of 
what  may  be  done  in  developing  the 
intelligence  of  the  Aleut,  while  the 
ceremony  of  the  Russian  church  is  engagingly  picturesque  and 
reverentially  beautiful.  The  skill  of  the  natives  in  piloting  their 
kyaks,  or  skin  canoes,  is  a  source  of  continuous  wonder  to  the  visi 
tor.  In  this  respect  they  have  not  changed  since  the  days  of  Chiri- 
kof.  Still  they  venture  into  troubled  seas,  still  in  their  frail  cockle- 
shells hunt  the  leviathans  of  the  deep,  still  with  a  flirt  of  the  paddle 
turn  themselves  completely  over  in  the  boat,  bobbing  up  after  com- 
pleting the  under-water  round  as  lightly  as  so  many  corks. 

But  the  fortune  hunter  will  be  eager  to  fare  forward,  no  matter 
what  the  attractions  of  beautiful  Unalaska  and  its  quaint  settlement, 
llliuliuk.  Passing  out  of  the  harbor  the  captain  may  tell  you  of 
the  island  Bogoslav,  to  the  westward,  which,  after  being  found  by 
Captain  Cook,  sunk  and  rose  again,  impelled  by  "drastic  lift  of  pent 

volcanic  fires." 

Then  the  steamer,  now  out  in  the  great 

sea  named  for  Vitus  Bering,  passes  not 

far    from    the    world-famed    Pribyloff 

Islands,  the    rookeries    and    breeding 

places  of  the  fur  seal.     The  Alaska  Commercial  Company  fostered 

this  fur  seal  industry,  made  it  the  most  lucrative  of  Uncle  Sam's 

investments  in  the  far  North,  paid  back  from  it  the  purchase  price  of 


Cbe  Seal  Industry  : 


22 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


all  the  territory,  protected  the  seals,  cared  for  the  natives,  and,  in 
1890,  when  the  lease  of  the  islands  passed  to  other  hands,  left  the 
industry  in  a  flourishing  condition.  Bancroft  said,  writing  in  1885, 
five  years  before  the  company's  lease  expired,  "Leasing  a  few 
leagues  of  rock,  hanging  almost  midway  between  the  continents, 
this  company  has  paid  over  to  the  United  States  almost  the  face  of 
the  whole  Alaska  purchase  money." 

The  steamer  skirts   Nunivak  Is- 
®     land,     which     is     so     improperly 
CbC  CM  St.  £<IWrCltCC  (       charted  as  to  have  been  a  menace 
t®®®®®®&»^  to  navigators  in  days  gone  by,  and 

is  even  now  dreaded  by  captains  new  to  the  Bering  Sea.     Passing 


SIXTY   MILE  POST,    NEAR  DAWSON. 

between  St.  Matthew  and  Hall  Islands,  cold  St.  Lawrence  comes 
into  view.  On  this  island  of  the  far  North  there  is  a  Government 
school  and  mission. 

Travelers  by  the  steamers  of  the  earlier  trips  may  here  get  a 
view  and  an  experience  of  floe  ice,  and  realize  that  they  are  in 
the  Arctic  latitudes,  the  "realms  of  the  boreal  pole."  Though  there 
is  no  danger,  the  onlooker  will  be  given  an  idea  of  the  tremendous 
ice  force  which  has  carried  many  a  luckless  whaler  into  the  white 
unknown,  and  which  piles  the  "paleocrystic  sea"  as  a  barrier 
between  human  endeavor  and  the  long-sought  pole. 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


23 


After  sighting  and  passing 
Point  Romanzoff  the  steamer  is 
soon  off  the  mouths  of  the 
Yukon,  Imt  fift)  or  sixty  miles 
away.  The  mighty  river  brings  down  so  much  debris,  chiefly  vol- 
canic ash,  that  immense  flats  have  been  formed  far  out  to  sea,  and 


the  mouths  of  the  Yukon  : 


\. 


r  j 


Siiitff 


the  cautious  skipper  gives  them  a  wide  berth,  experience  having 
taught  him  that  nothing  is  to  be  gained  by  "cutting  off  corners." 
The  flats  extend  from  Point  Romanzoff  to  Stuart  Island,  a  distance 
of  one  hundred  miles,  and  almost  to  St.  Michael  1  larbor. 

But  when  the  anchor  is  let  go  at  St.  Michael  the  ocean  voyage 
is  over.    It  has  been  one  of  the  longest  of  ocean  voyages.     Bancroft 


I  m  $t.  micbae! 


24  THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 

says  in  the  introduction  to  his  History  of  Alaska:  "The  island 
of  Unalaska  is  almost  as  far  west  of  San  Francisco  as  San  Francisco 
is  west  of  the  capital  of  the  United  States,  while  the  distance  from 
the  former  city  to  Fort  St.  Michael,  the  most  northerly  point  in 
America  inhabited  by  the  white  man,  is  greater  than  to  the  city  of 
Panama." 

i)(^X5y.)®®®(»x»x»X^^  In  1822  the  Russians  Khramchenko,  Etho- 

len  and  Vassilaief,  sent  out  in  the  brig 
Golovnin  and  the  schooner  Baranof  to  make 
1  a  survey  of  the  Bering  Sea,  discovered  St. 
Michael  Island  and  harbor.  Not  long  after  this  discovery  Baron 
Ferdinand  P.  von  Wrangell,  manager  for  the  Russian  American 
Company  at  Sitka,  or  Novo  Arkhangelsk,  sent  out  Lieutenant 
Tebenkof  to  establish  a  fort  on  the  island.  The  mission  was  success- 
ful and  Tebenkof  set  up  his  block  house  and  stockade,  calling  it 
Mikhaielovsk.  The  American  flag  of  the  Alaska  Commercial  Com- 
pany now  floats  from  a  pole  erected  just  at  one  corner  of  Tebenkof 's 
stockade. 

In  1836  the  place  narrowly  escaped  surprise  and  destruction  by 
an  attack  of  the  Eskimo.  A  romantic  story  is  told  of  how  the 
scheme  of  the  natives  was  frustrated  by  a  warning  given  by  an 
Indian  maiden  to  her  white  lover  in  the  little  fort. 

According  to  Zagoskin,  in  1843  the  settlement  contained  a 
barrack,  a  house  for  the  managing  agent,  two  magazines,  a  shed,  a 
bathhouse  and  kitchen,  all  occupying  a  space  twenty  fathoms 
square,  inclosed  with  a  stockade  fifteen  feet  high  and  protected  by 
two  block  houses,  mounted  with  six  three-pounders.  Outside  the 
stockade  was  a  blacksmith  shop,  a  house  for  native  visitors  and  a 
chapel. 
)<sXsXsXs®®®<3Xs^^  The  old  butka,  or  fort- 

tbe  fortress  and  Greek  gburcft  I   r™'%f ut£eep ^^ 

~5X*X!X*x*xtXjX!Xi(*X!X!XiXsx*x*X5X5X  c*  q  jyj  ^x\  e  r  c  i  a  1     Com- 

pany, who  have  built  their  quadrangle  on  the  site  of  the  Russian 
fort.  The  ancient  retail  store  of  the  Russians,  built  of  logs  brought 
from  Novo  Arkhangelsk,  is  still  part  of  the  quadrangle,  while  the 
guns,  from  which  outgoing  and  incoming  steamers  are  saluted,  are 
the  same  which  Tebenkof's  successors  used  to  frighten  into  submis- 
sion the  fiery  Malmeuts  of  the  north  and  to  put  down  any  insurrec- 
tions of  the  mixed  people  who  made  up  the  little  settlement  under 
them.  The  frost  each  year  throws  up  part  of  the  old  stockade  and 
links  the  present  bustling  activities  of  the  summer  season  with  the 
grim  old  past,  when  one  ship  a  year  flitted  hazardously  in  from  Sitka, 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY  25 


I  the  native  BKimos  i 


bringing  supplies  and  the  warming  liquors  which  were  used  m  the 

great  annual  debauch. 

Here,  under  the  ancient  guns,  now  anchor  great  llcets.  On  the 
shores  of  volcanic  basalt  are  built  many  river  steamers  and 
enormous  barges.  The  gold  discovery  has  greatly  changed  condi- 
tions since  the  single  ship  from  Novo  Arkhangelsk  and  the 
occasional  bidarra,  or  large  Eskimo  skin  boat,  which  then  repre- 
sented the  commerce  of  the  mighty  Yukon.  The  old  Russian  influ- 
ence is  still  represented  by  a  Greek  church  and  testified  to  by  the 
Greek  crosses  over  the  graves  out  on  the  tundra. 
,  ®@(.)®®(ix5x5xi^  The  natives  about  St.  Michael,  and  all 

over  the  big  Yukon  delta,  are  Eskimo, 
belonging  to  that  strange  race  which 
^®®®®®®®®®®(^^  stretches    from    the    domain    of    the 

Aleuts  on  the  west  to  "Greenland's  icy  mountains"  on  the  east. 
They  have  nothing  in  common  with  the  Chukchi  of  the  easternmost 
Siberian  land  any  more  than  they  have  with  the  Aleuts  of  the 
islands,  which  fact  has  gone  against  the  theory  of  the  original  set- 
tlement of  America  by  way  of  Bering  Strait. 

These  people  form  a  most  interesting  study  during  the  brief 
wait  at  St.  Michael,  while  baggage  and  freight  are  being  transferred 
from  the  ocean  liners  to  one  of  the  swift  and  commodious  river 
steamers.  They  are  among  the  mildest  and  unquestionably  the 
filthiest  of  human  kind.  Personal  cleanliness  in  the  winter  is  entirely 
unattempted.  The  Eskimo  diet  consists  principally  of  rotted  fish 
and  rancid  seal  oil,  which  give  to  their  habitations  an  odor  from 
which  the  nostril  of  the  white  man  recoils.  Though  lazy  and 
improvident  past  all  belief,  they  are  tractable,  have  the  powers  of 
mimicry  exceptionally  developed,  readily  unravel  the  puzzles  of 
white  children,  and  even  master  chess  in  a  way  to  put  to  shame  their 
missionary  teachers. 
»®®®@®(SXS)®®^^  There   1S   excellent   sPort   for 


hunting  and  fishing 


the  fowler  around  St.  Michael, 
the  neighboring  marshes  and 
SXsXsXSXsXit)®®®^^  lagoons     being     filled     with 

geese,  ducks,  snipe  and  other  waterfowl,  which  breed  there  in  count- 
less thousands.  Willow  grouse  are  rather  plentiful  upon  the  tundra, 
while  in  the  further  hills  are  deer,  caribou  and  the  larger  game.  The 
fishing  in  the  bay  is  merely  a  matter  of  dropping  in  a  line  with 
properly  baited  hooks.    The  creel  of  the  angler  will  soon  be  full. 

Here,  at  St.  Michael,  are  to  be  had  the  curios  of  the  Eskimo,  the 
strangely  carved  ivories,  the  coarser  baskets,  the  models  of  kyaks 


26  THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


and  bidarras,  quaint  fishhooks,  bows,  arrows,  strange  spears  and 
ancient  implements  of  stone  and  bone. 

The  furs  which  are  absolutely  necessary  to  withstand  the  winter 
cold  may  be  secured  at  this  trading  post.  Each  man  who  ventures 
into  the  mines,  to  remain  over  the  winter,  should  have  a  fur  sleeping 
robe  or  sleeping  bag,  a  "parki,"  which  is  a  combination  fur  coat 
and  hood,  muclucs  and  water  boots.  Moccasins  and  mittens  of 
moose  skin  can  be  obtained  further  up  the  river  at  any  of  the  com- 
pany's trading  stations. 

^^^^^^.^^^^^  „     Already    there    has    been    some 
}®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®  J  .  , 

®     prospecting    of    streams    not    tar 

$0ltie  llCW  60ld  TKla$  |  from  St.  Michael,  and  tales  of 
$®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®  gold  are  frequently  brought  in  by 
the  Indians,  but  as  yet  nothing  has  been  developed  in  the  vicinity 
to  pay  for  working  or  to  cause  a  stampede  of  the  adventurous. 
Some  of  those  acquainted  with  the  country,  however,  predict  that 
streams  easy  of  access  from  St.  Michael  will  in  time  prove  to  contain 
valuable  deposits  of  gold. 

®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®    Havmg  transferred  to  a  river  steamer 
1  Jl      k     v  \f       W  at   ^t-    Michael,    the    journey   up    the 

Yukon  is  begun.  There  is  first  a 
®®®®®®®®®®X®®®®®®*®®®®  stretch  of  sixty  miles  across  the  Be- 
ring Sea  to  the  Aphoon  mouth  of  the  river — the  most  easterly  and 
best  for  navigation  of  all  the  mouths  which  discharge  through  the 
great  delta.  It  is  on  account  of  the  vast  banks  caused  by  the  debris 
brought  down  by  the  ice  and  the  volcanic  scoriae  discharged  into 
the  Yukon  by  the  White  and  Tanana  rivers  that  ocean-going 
steamers  cannot  get  nearer  the  mouth  of  the  mighty  stream.  But 
the  trip  across  the  Bering  in  the  summer  months  is  not  attended 
with  any  danger  to  the  river  steamers,  and  no  attempt  is  ever  made 
to  set  out  during  a  storm. 
}®®®®®®®&®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®     Kotlik,    near   the    discharging 

Cbe  first  Stopping  Place  I  IT*  °tf  d;e  A.pho°" mont£ is 

the  first  stopping  place.  Here 
there  is  a  rude  Russian  church, 
the  store  of  an  ancient  Russian  trader  who  dominates  the  place,  and 
the  driftwood  dwellings  of  a  small  settlement.  The  surroundings 
are  characteristic  of  the  entire  delta— flat,  rich  soil  which  might  sup- 
port a  nation  if  in  a  kindlier  clime,  but  which,  frozen  to  within  a  short 
distance  of  the  surface,  produces  nothing  but  thick  grasses  and  low 
scrub  willows  or  other  Arctic  trees.  Waterfowl  flit  in  every  direc- 
tion or  chatter  continually  on  the  flats.  Here,  too,  the  traveler  has 
the  first  experience  of  taking  on  wood  for  fuel.   The  Eskimo  cut  up 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


-'7 


and  split  the  drift  logs  and  pile  them  on  the  hank.    Then  when  the 
steamer  hauls  up  at  the  landing  the  natives,  win.  compose  a  gr< 
portion  of  the  crew,  bring  on  the  wood  as  rapidly  as  their  naturally 
sluggish  natures  can  be  spurred  to  work. 

The  nexl  stopping  place  is  Vndreaofsky, 
a  station  of  much  more  importance. 
Here  are  large  warehouses  of  the  Ala 
5®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®.j  Commercial  Company,  and  quite  an 
kimo  settlement  The  ancient  station  here  was  probably  named  for 
Andrei  Glazanof,  who  crossed  to  the  Yukon  River  from  St.  Michael 
in  1833,  on  a  journey  of  exploration.  In  [855  the  station  was 
destroyed  by  the  Indians,  and  two  white  men  massacred. 


?®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®® 

J\\  flndreaof$ky  I 


lU'lii'H    AT    ST.    MK'HAKl.. 


The  town  is  on  the  Swetlaretchka  River,  about  a  mile  up  from 
Petkas  Point  on  the  Yukon,  and  its  present  importance  arises  from 
the  fact  that  it  is  the  winter  quarters  for  the  Alaska  Commercial 
Company's  steamers.  These  steamers  are  sent  into  winter  quarters 
here  completely  loaded  and  equipped  and  ready  to  start  up  stream 
with  the  opening  of  navigation  in  the  spring.  The  reason  for  going 
into  winter  quarters  here  is  two-fold:  First,  the  steamers  can  be 
hauled  into  a  place  where  they  will  be  safe  from  destruction  by  the 
rushing  ice,  when  the  river  breaks;  and,  second,  because  nearly  a 
month  in  time  can  be  gained  by  wintering  at  Andreaofsky  instead  of 
at  St.  Michael. 


28 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


Though  the  harbor  at  St.  Michael 
does  not  freeze  until  some  time  after 
the  mouth  of  the  Yukon  is  closed 
by  ice,  on  the  other  hand  the  ice 
piles  up  there  in  the  spring  so  that  the  harbor  is  not  free  until  long 
after  the  river  is  open  to  navigation.  At  Andreaofsky  the  river  is 
open  in  an  average  year  on  May  28th,  while  Kotlik  will  not  see  a 
clear  river  until  June  1st,  and  St.  Michael  is  still  shut  in  up  to 
June  23d. 

The  clear  water  of  the  Swetlaretchka  is  in  striking  contrast  with 
the  muddy  Yukon,  whose  water  is  said,  during  the  spring  freshet, 
to  be  nearly  one-third  mud,  as  can  be  seen  when  it  is  permitted  to 
settle  in  a  glass.  As  has  been  stated,  the  silt  is  largely  represented  by 
the  volcanic  ash  carried  down  by  the  White  and  Tanana  rivers, 
great  tributaries  of  the  Yukon,  which  have  their  sources  in  a  vol- 


A  STREET  IN  CIRCLE  CITY. 


canic  land.     And  here,  with  the  steamer  well  on  its  voyage,  a  few 
words  of  description  of  the  second  stream  on  all  the  earth  will  not 
be  out  of  place. 
&®®®®SXsXsXsX^^  There  are  no  romantic  tales  told  of 

Discovery  of  the  Vukon  i    the  ^ov7  °f  *e  Jukon' su? 

as  followed  the  finding  of  the 
Mississippi  by  the  heroic  De  Soto. 
In  fact  the  name  of  the  discoverer  seems  to  be  lost  to  history.  The 
great  flats  at  the  mouth  held  the  early  Russian  and  English  naviga- 
tors at  bay,  while  the  stragglers  who  first  penetrated  to  the  region 
of  the  river's  upper  waters  knew  it  as  the  Pelly.  This  name  it  held 
as  far  as  the  mouth  of  the  Porcupine  until  1846.  In  that  year  Mr.  J. 
Bell,  of  the  Hudson  Bay  Company,  crossed    the    divide    from    the 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY  29 


1  Ristory  of  the  River 


Mackenzie,  reached  the  Porcupine  ami  descended  thai  stream  to  the 
big  river  which  the  Indians  of  that  district  called  Yukon.  This  name 

Bell  adopted,  and  it  has  remained  Yukon  to  this  day,  though  not  till 
the  publication  of  the  Coast  Survey  Map,  in   [869,  did  the  name 
Yukon  apply  to  the  river  as  far  up  as  the  confluence  of  the  L 
and  the  Pelly. 

Schwatka  insisted  that  the  Lewis  River  was  the  true  Yukon, 
its  real  source.  But  though  the  Lewis  carries  more  water  than 
either  the  Pelly  or  the  Hootalinqua,  it  is  shorter  than  either;  so 
whether  Lake  Linderman  or  the  Tako  Arm  is  to  be  taken  as  the 
source  of  the  Yukon  will  remain  with  future  geographers  and 
plorers.  Here,  however,  is  a  description  of  the  river  and  some 
facts  taken  from  a  recent  work  by  the  late  Mr.  V.  Wilson : 

"The  Yukon  has  its  source  in  the 
Rocky  Mountains  of  British  Columbia 
and  the  Coast  Range  Mountains  in 
southeastern  Alaska,  about  125  miles 
from  the  City  of  Juneau.  This  branch  of  the  Yukon,  which  is 
known  as  the  Lewis  River,  has  a  length  of  357  miles.  The  branch 
that  heads  in  British  Columbia  is  known  as  the  Pelly  River  and  is 
600  miles  in  length.  These  two  branches  unite  and  are  then  known 
as  the  Yukon.  At  the  confluence  of  the  Lewis  and  Pelly  rivers  is 
Fort  Selkirk. 

"The  Yukon  proper  is  2,044  miles  in  length  and  is  navigable 
the  entire  distance  for  flat-bottom  boats  with  a  carrying  capacity  of 
from  400  to  500  tons.  From  Fort  Selkirk  the  Yukon  flows  north- 
west 400  miles,  touching  the  Arctic  Circle;  thence  southwest  for  a 
distance  of  1,600  miles,  where  it  empties  into  Bering  Sea.  It  drains 
more  than  600,000  square  miles  of  territory  and  discharges  one- 
third  more  water  into  Bering  Sea  than  does  the  Mississippi  into 
the  Gulf  of  Mexico. 

"It  is  sixty  miles  wide  at  its  mouth,  and  very  shallow,  which 
prevents  its  navigation  by  sea-going  vessels.  Fifteen  hundred  miles 
inland  the  river  widens  out  from  one  to  ten  miles  and  a  thousand 
islands  send  the  channel  in  as  many  different  directions,  and  only 
natives  who  are  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  river  are  trusted  to 
pilot  boats  up  the  stream  during  the  season  of  low  water. 

"Unlike  the  Amazon  or  Mississippi,  with  their  borders  of  low- 
lands, receding  hills  and  flat,  swampy  districts,  the  Yukon  has 
sawed  mountain  chains  vertically  in  twain  and  forced  its  way 
through  granite  walls,  which  have  been  chiseled  into  all  sorts  of 
fantastic  forms  by  the  glaciers  of  long  ago.  An  unending  panorama 
of  grandeur  greets  the  eye  of  the  traveler  in  the  months  of  June, 


the  Russian  mission 


30  THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 

July  and  August,  as  he  is  borne  along  on  the  current  of  this  mighty- 
stream,  which  is  only  second  in  size  to  the  largest  river  in  the  world. 

"Its  banks  are  fringed  with  flowers,  carpeted  with  the  all-pre- 
vailing moss  or  tundra;  birds  innumerable  sing  out  a  welcome  from 
every  treetop,  and,  pitch  your  tent  where  you  will  in  midsummer,  a 
bed  of  roses,  a  clump  of  poppies  and  a  bunch  of  bluebells  will  adorn 
your  camping  place.  One  realizes  that  he  is  in  a  land  of  paradoxes. 
He  will  see  a  giant  glacier  sleeping  on  flowers  of  almost  endless 
variety. 

"About  September  25th  the  scene  of  beauty  is  suddenly 
changed,  when  the  Winter  King  advances,  sending  the  alcoholic 
column  eighty  degrees  below  zero,  the  birds  to  the  southland,  the 
white  man  to  his  cabin,  the  Indian  to  his  hut,  and  the  bear  to  his 
sleeping  chamber  in  the  mountains.  Every  stream  becomes  a  river 
of  ice,  every  hill  a  mountain  of  snow,  and  the  valleys  of  beautiful 
flowers  are  changed  into  a  scene  of  eternal  whiteness." 

The  next  stopping  place  above  An- 
dreaofsky  is  Ikogimut,  or  the  "Rus- 
sian Mission,"  as  it  is  generally 
called.  This  mission  has  been 
established  many  years  and  is  the  principal  station  of  the  Greek 
church  in  the  northern  portion  of  Alaska.  The  church  itself  is  a 
picturesque  structure  and  the  services  most  interesting.  This  is  a 
favorite  place  for  picking  up  curios  and  small  furs.  The  water  in 
the  river  at  this  point  has  been  sounded  to  a  depth  of  480  feet,  indi- 
cating that  it  flows  through  an  ancient  crater.  Here,  too,  the  birch- 
bark  canoe  of  the  up-river  Indian  begins  to  be  seen  in  competition 
with  the  skin  kyak  of  the  Eskimo,  for  Paimut,  about  five  hour's  run 
up  the  stream  from  the  Russian  Mission,  marks  the  dividing  line 
between  the  Innuits  and  Ingaliks.  The  Eskimo  and  the  Indians 
of  the  interior  were  in  former  years  frequently  at  war,  but  it  has  been 
many  years  since  any  great  battles  were  fought.  Still,  they  occasion- 
ally shoot  on  sight  when  hunting  parties  chance  to  meet  on  the 
ranges. 

g£X5x?XsXs)®®^^  At  Koserefsky  is  the  Holy  Cross  Mis- 

"i)  CaIit   /7wa**  mi«*iAM   9)    sion,  maintained  by  the  Sisters  of  St. 

%  boiy  i>ros$  mission  §       •      , ..    T    \  ^  ,,         „ 

g  Anne  and  the  Jesuit  Fathers.  Here 
the  voyager  will  be  greatly  interested 
in  the  gardening,  which  shows  what  may  be  done  in  the  way  of 
raising  the  hardier  vegetables  whenever  an  increasing  population 
shall  put  Alaska  to  the  test  of  its  capacity  for  supporting  life.  Tur- 
nips, radishes,  lettuce,  potatoes,  cabbages  and  celery  are  grown  with 
more  or  less  success,  and  continuous  experiments  are  made  with 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY  31 


different  seeds.  The  work  among;  the  Indian  children  shows  their 
wonderful  capacity  for  receiving  a  certain  measure  of  instruction, 
though  as  yet  the  moral  results  have  not  been  all  the  devoted  mis- 
sionaries have  hoped  for. 

By  this  time  the  traveler  in  the  months 

of  June  and  July  will  have  found  one 

UN  llZOSClUitO  PC$t  <      great   blur  on   the   beautiful   picture 

drawn  by  Mr.  V.  Wilson  and  quoted 
hitherto.  This  blur  is  represented  by  a  cloud  of  mosquitoes.  Thi  -ugh 
they  are  not  troublesome  while  the  steamer  is  under  way,  once  a  stop 
is  made  the  adventurer  is  given  a  foretaste  of  what  he  must  expect 
when  he  starts  prospecting.  These  pests  are  so  numerous  and 
aggressive  that  mosquito  hats  or  masks,  high  boots  and  gauntlet 
gloves  become  absolutely  necessary  in  the  miner's  outfit.  Bed  nets 
are  essential  if  sleep  is  to  be  obtained. 

^Y-Y^SYsysysyssj^ysyy^     Anvik,  the  next  landing  place,  is  half  a 
<o^^  mile   up  the  Anvik  River,   which   flows 

1  PiCtUre$(|UC  flUViK  |  into  the  Yukon  from  the  right  bank.  Here 
®«)®(»X^®®®®®^  there  is  a  flourishing  Episcopalian  mis- 

sion, church  and  school,  a  sawmill  and  quite  an  Indian  village. 
Here,  again,  the  work  of  the  missionaries  among  the  Indian  children 
shows  astonishing  results,  when  the  settled  filth  and  shiftless  ignor- 
ance of  the  natives  are  taken  into  consideration.  The  American 
bishop  has  here  a  little  steamer,  "The  Northern  Light,"  used  for 
conveying  supplies  from  St.  Michael  to  the  various  Episcopalian 
missions  on  the  big  river.  Anvik  River  runs  well  over  toward  the 
Bering  Sea  coast,  and  offers,  by  means  of  a  comparatively  short 
portage,  a  means  for  winter  communication  with  St.  Michael,  the 
trail  being  frequently  used  by  the  missionaries  and  traders.  It  was 
by  this  route  that  Glazanof  first  reached  the  Yukon,  when  sent  out 
by  Tebenkof  from  St.  Michael  in  1833.  At  that  time  a  large 
Indian  village  was  found  at  the  present  site  of  Anvik. 

At  Nulato,  to  which  the  Koyo- 

kuk  River  pays  tribute,  will  be 

the   RiCb   H^VOkUk  RiVer  !         found  another  ancient  Russian 

post  and  a  well-established 
Catholic  mission.  In  1838  one  Malakhof  ascended  the  Yukon  to 
Nulato  and  there  built  a  small  block  house.  He  was  forced  to 
return  to  St.  Michael  for  supplies,  however,  and  while  he  was  gone 
the  Indians  burned  his  post.  In  1842,  Lieutenant  Zagoskin  built  a 
new  fort  at  Nulato  and  established  relations  with  the  Indian-. 
Zagoskin  was  aided  in  his  work  by  Derzhavin,  one  of  the  intrepid 
pathfinders  who  had  set  out  with  Glazanof  in  1833  to  penetrate  the 


32  THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 

frozen  wilds.  He  it  was  who  was  in  command  in  185 1  when  the 
since  famous  massacre  by  the  Koyukan  Indians  occurred — famous 
because  in  it  Lieutenant  Barnard  of  the  English  navy,  who  was 
there  with  a  party  searching-  for  the  lost  Sir  John  Franklin,  was 
butchered  with  the  rest. 

The  Koyokuk  River,  whence  these  fierce  Indians  came,  has 
produced  some  gold,  and  the  tales  of  the  richness  of  its  bars  have 
spread  far  and  wide  among  the  Alaskan  miners.  The  river  is 
navigable  for  a  long  distance,  and  the  fact  that  the  diggings  are  so 
far  from  its  mouth  has  prevented  their  development  on  account  of 
the  difficulty  in  getting  supplies  to  them.  This  will  soon  be  obviated, 
and  the  Koyokuk  will  offer  comparatively  virgin  ground  for  the 
prospector.  The  Alaska  Commercial  Company  maintains  a  post  at 
Nulato,  and  will  be  prepared  to  provide  the  necessary  service  on  the 
Koyokuk. 

At  Novikakat,  the  next  stopping  place,  is  an  old-time  Russian 
trader  named  Korkorin,  now  engaged  with  the  Alaska  Commercial 
Company.  He  has  reminiscences  of  the  days  when  the  yearly  trip 
was  made  to  St.  Michael  to  meet  the  lone  vessel  of  the  Russian 
American  Company,  of  the  feasts  of  that  holiday  time,  and  of  the 
struggle  against  famine  during  many  winters.  There  has  been  some 
prospecting  in  the  streams  about  Novikakat,  but  the  results  are  as 
yet  indefinite. 

At  Fort  Adams  will  be  found  an  Episcopalian  church  and  mis- 
sion, the  children  of  the  school  being  particularly  proficient.  Here, 
too,  is  a  trading  post  and  something  in  the  way  of  gardening. 

Tanana,  or  Nuklukyets,  is  an 
important  trading  post,  for  here 
there  comes  into  the  Yukon  from 
one  side  the  trade  of  the  Tozikakat 
River  and  from  the  other  that  of  the  great  Tanana,  which  is  600  or 
700  miles  long,  with  many  tributaries.  The  Tanana  drains  the 
country  lying  between  the  Copper  River  and  the  Yukon  as  far  south 
as  the  White  River.  It  is  expected  that  the  country  about  the  head 
waters  will  prove  one  of  the  richest  in  all  the  land  when  once 
it  has  been  prospected.  Little  is  known  of  the  river,  however,  and 
the  Indians  who  guard  its  treasures  are  inclined  to  be  hostile. 

However,  at  Tanana,  there  is  an  interesting  store  and  an 
enormous  turnip  patch,  which  latter  indicates  that  could  all  men  live 
after  the  famous  recommendation  of  Colonel  Sellers,  "turnips  and 
water,"  there  need  be  no  starvation  in  the  land.  The  store  is 
operated  for  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company  by  Al  Mayo,  once  a 
circus  man,  but  who  has  been  in  Alaska  for  close  upon  thirty  years. 


tanana  trading  Post 


In  Rampart  City 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  (OUT ANY  33 

Here  the  Indians,  from  as  far  as  the  sources  of  the  Tanana,  come 
to  exchange  their  furs  and  fish  for  powder,  had  and  some  of  the 
edible  comforts  of  civilization. 

....... Then  come  the  Lower  Ramparts,  where 

the  water  goes  furiously  between  L;reat 
walls  rivaling  in  picturesqueness  the 
famed  palisades  of  the  I  tudson.  During 
the  highest  freshets  the  current  is  said  to  attain  a  speed  of  eleven 
knots  in  the  rapids. 

But  the  ingoing  miner  will  be  most  interested  in  Rampart  City, 
near  the  mouth  of  Big  Minook  Creek,  because  this  new  city 
is  the  commercial  center  of  the  Minook  Mining  District,  where  will 
be  found  the  first  definite  mining  as  yet  encountered  on  the  journey. 
Here  is  a  bustling  town  grown  up  around  the  big  new  store  and 
warehouse  of  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company.  From  this  the 
miners  carry  their  supplies  in  all  directions,  to  the  claims  on  Little 
Minook,  Hunter,  Alder  and  the  many  other  gold-bearing  creeks  in 
the  neighborhood.  They  are  always  certain  of  a  plentiful  food  sup- 
ply, there  being  none  of  the  bars  to  navigation  below  Minook  which 
make  the  later  trips  so  uncertain  on  the  upper  river. 

On  account  of  the  numbers  who  have  settled  at  Rampart  City, 
the  entire  country  roundabout  will  undoubtedly  be  thoroughly  pros- 
pected. Expeditions  across  the  divide,  into  the  Koyokuk  head 
waters,  have  been  planned,  and  it  is  quite  probable  that  Rampart 
City  will  become  the  point  of  supply  for  Koyokuk  mines. 
h®®®(SXS)®®®®®®®®  Fort  Hamlin  is  the  next  important  post.  Here 
are  large  warehouses  of  the  Alaska  Com- 
mercial Company.  These  are  generally  filled 
®®  with  stores  waiting  to  be  forwarded  to  the  dif- 
ferent mining  camps. 

Now  the  steamer  enters  the  region  of  the  Yukon  Flats.  These 
extend  from  Fort  Hamlin  clear  to  Circle  City,  a  distance  of  about 
400  miles.  The  river  widens  and  the  water  flows  in  many  chan- 
nels, between  numberless  islands.  Undoubtedly  there  was  once  a 
great  lake  in  this  basin,  larger  than  any  lake  of  to-day.  At  the 
Ramparts  there  probably  was  a  fall  greater  than  Niagara,  before  the 
water  cut  its  way  through  the  mountains  and  drained  the  lake  into 

the  sea. 
QQ®®^^  After  the  waters  subsided,  the  Hats 

m*        a         )    became  the  home  of  the  mastodon, 

home  or  m  imastoaon  \    the  fossil  rcniains  and  ivon  tusks 


Vukon  Tlats 


of  this  great  animal  being  found 
here  in  profusion,  especially  on  Mammoth  Island,  which  seems  to 
have  been  a  burying  place  for  them.     Indian  stories  come  drifting 


34 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


along  occasionally  to  the  effect  that  some  of  these  monsters  are  still 
alive  in  the  comparatively  unexplored  territory  around  the  head- 
waters of  Copper  River,  but  the  yarns  are  probably  as  apocry- 
phal as  that  about  Alexander  Badlam's  sidehill  bear,  which  had  the 
legs  on  one  side  of  the  body  "longer  than  they  really  ought  to  be." 

Into  the  Yukon  Flats  empty  the  Porcu- 
pine    River,     Birch     Creek     and     other 
streams,  and  in  its  course  through  them 
the    Yukon    touches    its    most    northern 
point,  an  elbow  sticking  up  into  the  confines  of  the  Arctic  Circle. 
Here,  just  at  the  point  of  the  elbow,  is  Fort  Yukon,  and  there  Rus- 
sian dominance  gave  way  in  the  early  days  to  English  sway. 

Old  Fort  Yukon  was  established  by  the  Hudson  Bay  Com- 
pany, its  agents  coming  over  from  the  Mackenzie  by  way  of  the 
Porcupine  and  establishing  their  post  near  the  point  where  the  north- 
ern river  entered  the  Yukon.    There  are  a  few  traces  of  the  old  fort 


fetf£" 

i 

■K^JHidJL  -«•■_<£. 

4k 

A   NATIVE  SKIN   BOAT. 


remaining  a  short  distance  from  the  newer  settlement.  Here  the 
English  Company  introduced  its  "huskies"  in  place  of  the  wolf-dog 
of  the  Eskimo,  and  carried  on  an  extensive  fur  trade  until  it  was 
found  that  the  English  had  no  right  to  the  country.  All  supplies 
came  in  and  all  shipments  went  out  by  the  Porcupine,  the  Macken- 
zie and  the  great  Canadian  lakes.  In  this  way  Fort  Yukon  became 
one  of  the  most  remote  outposts  of  the  white  man.  At  present  there 
is  comparatively  little  business  transacted  there,  though  there  is  an 
Episcopalian  mission  and  school  and  quite  a  settlement  of  Fort 
Yukon  Indians. 
ysxSXsXSXsXsXsXs^^  At  Fort  Yukon  the  traveler  is 

Land  of  tbe  midnight  Sun  |  ^^tL^tetortnS! 

night  a  photograph  was  taken 
of  great  game  killed  by  the  light  of  the  same  unquenching  orb. 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


35 


Here,  too,  in  dead  of  winter  the  aurora  borealis  makes  it-  most 
gorgeous  displays  when  "the  northern  lights  come  down  o'  nights 
to  dance  with  the  houseless  snow." 

Interesting,  however,  as  fossils  and  history  and  grand  disp 
of  nature  may  be,  the  fortune  hunters  will  be  eager  to  get  on  to  <  11 
cle  City,  about  eighty  miles  beyond.     Here  the  Yukon  Flats  c< 
to  an  end  and  an  elevated  tableland  borders  the  river,  and  here  the 
camp  called  Circle  City  was  founded  in  the  autumn  of  1894.     Up 
to  the  time  of  the  discoveries  on  the  Klondike,  this  was  the  wonder 
city  of  the  North. 

The  mines  on  Birch  Creek  and  its 
tributaries  proved  to  be  so  rich  and  so 
easily  worked  that  2,000  people,  from 
all  over  the  world,  flocked  to  the  new- 
camp.  Four  miles  of  cabins  soon  extended  along  the  river,  in  the 
center  of  which  line  of  habitations  was  the  Alaska  Commercial 
Company's  commodious  post.  In  this  new  settlement  "the  games 
never  closed."  Here  were  theaters  and  restaurants,  stores,  saloons 
— in  short,  a  city. 

The    miners    made    and    executed 
their  own  laws,  and  theft,  murder 
I   DOnCMV  W   lift   UZinm  |     and  outrages  upon  the  pcrs0n  were 

®GXsXsXs)®®(sX«x»)®^  practically  unknown.     Fortunes  in 

gold  could  be  left  for  a  year  in  an  unlocked  cabin,  and  none  would 
come  to  break  in  and  steal.  The  success  of  this  miners'  government 
at  Circle  City  is  one  of  the  most  notable  examples  furnished  by 
history  of  the  ability  of  the  people  to  govern  themselves. 

Though  the  rush  to  Dawson  in  1896-97  almost  depopulated 
Circle  City,  much  gold  is  known  to  remain  in  the  Birch  Creek  dig- 
gings, which  are  some  fifty-two  miles  away,  and  reached  by  a  good 
horse  trail.  The  camp  will  undoubtedly  make  a  large  output  of  gold 
for  years  to  come. 

Seventy  Mile  Creek  is  the  next 
post,  and  then  conies  the  famous 
Forty  Mile,  which  was  the  principal 
settlement  in  the  gold  fields  before 
the  rush  to  Circle  City  and  the  subsequent  stampede  to  Dawson. 
Here  the  traveler  is  upon  Canadian  territory,  and  across  the  river 
from  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company's  station  is  the  post  of  the 
Canadian  police,  under  Captain  Constantine. 

This  is  the  supply  point  for  the  mines  on  Miller,  ( Ihicken, 
Glacier,  Bed  Rock  and  other  creeks  in  the  district,  which  arc  in  part 
in  American  territory,  though  largely   under  Canadian   law-   and 


36  THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


duties.  Much  gold  has  been  taken  out  of  these  diggings,  and,  when 
matters  have  quieted  somewhat  in  the  newer  mines,  the  output  from 
them  will  continue  to  materially  swell  Alaska's  returns. 

Forty  Mile  Creek  took  its  name  from  being  about  forty  miles 
from  old  Fort  Reliance.  The  remains  of  the  Alaska  Commercial 
Company's  ancient  fur-trading  post  may  yet  be  seen  on  the  way  up 
stream,  not  a  great  distance  below  Dawson. 

to'iyttiXi&Xi&x^^  And  then  at  the  mouth  of  the  Klon- 

_  dike,  or  more  properly  Throan-dik,  is 

|    Jit  bOlaetl   D^WSOtt  jj       Dawson— Mecca  of  all  who  look  for 
®®®@®®(sX»)®®(^^  gold  in  the  frozen  land;  dream  of  the 

fortune  hunter;  hope  of  the  poor.  Here  at  last  is  the  hustling  city  of 
the  North,  with  its  life  going  at  a  tremendous  pace,  its  struggles  for 
riches  and  against  starvation;  its  wealth  of  gold  dust  everywhere; 
its  possibilities  for  well-paid  endeavor  practically  unlimited. 

The  tale  of  how  "Siwash  George"  Cormack  gave  the  informa- 
tion to  the  world  of  coarse  gold  being  found  on  the  branches 
of  the  Klondike  River;  of  the  mad  rush  to  the  new  diggings;  of 
fortunes  made,  lost,  won  or  overlooked;  of  luck  and  hard  luck,  and 
of  the  fabulous  output  of  Bonanza,  El  Dorado  and  other  creeks,  is 
already  familiar  to  all.  It  is  the  earth's  most  modern  romance  in  real 
life,  and  it  will  give  to  statistics  and  to  literature  facts  and  fancies 
rivaling  the  most  astonishing  figures  of  history  and  the  most 
extravagant  imaginings  of  the  wonder  writers. 

In  this  new  city  the  Alaska 
Commercial  Company's  build- 
ings occupy  an  entire  block  of 
land,  200  x  210  feet,  in  the 
very  center  of  the  settlement.  On  this  land  have  been  erected  large 
warehouses,  a  store  and  a  dwelling,  and  here  centers  the  principal 
business  of  the  mines.  Here  come  the  miners  with  their  heavy  sacks 
of  dust,  their  nuggets,  their  orders  for  supplies.  Here,  too,  gather 
the  newcomers  seeking  advice,  cashing  their  letters  of  credit,  buy- 
ing and  selling. 

But  Dawson  must  be  seen  to  be  understood.     No  descriptive 
pen  can  adequately  picture  the  log  city  of  sudden  fortune.     It  is 
destined  to  be  famous  for  years  to  come,  the  successor  in  the  world's 
desire  of  Johannesburg  and  Cripple  Creek. 
®<«)®®(^$;«X3®®®(^^  "^or  most  the  journey  on  the  river  is  here 

\  Sixtu  mil*  Cmk  I    ended'  but  no  man  may  say  when  new 

discoveries  will  cause  to  spring  up  new 
cities     further     up     the     long     stream. 
Eighty  miles  above  Dawson,  at  the  mouth  of  Sixty  Mile  Creek,  is 


the  Company's  Buildings 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY  37 


»e  White  River 


another  of  the  Alaska  Commercial  Company's  stations,  conducted 
by  Harper  &  Company.  Here,  on  an  island,  are  a  store  and  saw- 
mill, and  here  many  Miller  Creek  miners  were  accustomed  to  spend 

the  winters. 

&®3X§£)(3<S^^  Seventy  miles  further  on  the  Stewart 

M  Th*  Ct*ma»t  Bin**  $  RlVer  COmeS  rollinS  int"  the  Vnl;"n  its 
I  CIK  Jiewan   lyiver  .     deep,  dark  flood.    Thebarsof  the  Stew- 

.  .  .-.?K£®®®®®@®®®®<»-'— -^  art  have  for  years  furnished  lucrative 
washings,  and  it  is  generally  expected  that  some  unusual  develop- 
ments in  gulch  diggings  will  be  made  there  by  the  many  prospectors 
now  combing  its  tributaries.  The  Stewart  probably  will  be  found 
navigable,  for  small  steamers,  for  many  miles,  and  ii  seems  certain 
that  a  town  will  grow  up  at  its  mouth. 

®S®®®®®®®€®?®®®@      lt    is    onlv    about    ten    miles    from    the 

mouth  of  the  Stewart  to  the  mouth  of 

the  White  River,  but  the  two  streams 
are  entirely  different  in  character. 
While  the  waters  of  the  Stewart  are  darkly  clear,  it  is  the  White 
River  that  is  largely  responsible  for  the  muddy  appearance  of  the 
Yukon.  It  comes  from  a  country  over  which  has  been  deposited,  in 
a  comparatively  recent  era,  great  quantities  of  volcanic  ash,  and  it 
is  possible  that  near  its  source  is  a  region  of  active  volcanoes.  The 
current  of  the  White  River  runs  from  eight  to  ten  miles  an  hour,  and 
it  rushes  into  the  Yukon  with  a  mighty  roar,  and  with  such  force 
as  to  project  its  waters  nearly  across  the  swift  current  of  the  main 
stream. 

ww(SYW<»fft-.(5YSYS-Gys}  Now,  after  ninety-six  miles  more  of  travel- 
ing, against  a  rapid  flood,  Fort  Selkirk  is 
reached,  just  below  the  confluence  of  the 
»55®®®®®®®®«®®  Lewis  and  Pelly  rivers.  This  was  formerly 
the  head  of  steamboat  navigation,  but  small  steamers  are  hereafter 
to  run  up  the  Lewis  River  to  the  rapids.  The  old  Fort  Selkirk  of 
the  Hudson  Bay  Company  was  pillaged  and  burned  by  Indians 
from  the  coast  on  August  1,  [852.  Only  the  ruins  of  the  chimn 
remain  to  mark  the  spot.  But  here  the  Alaska  Commercial  Com- 
pany now  has  a  store  and  trading  post,  and  here  are  gardens  and 
a  great  extent  of  grazing  land. 

•  •  i  t®®®®®®®(£® •  •      Beside   the   ruins   of   the   ancient    I'"*'t 

•  c  a     f   <k     71  •     tM's  l°n£  "ver  voyage  comes  to  an 

;  tna  ot  tne  uoyage  d  Th  traveler  wju  have  t-,iuil(1  lt 
® 

.....  •  ixs<«®s®. entirely  devoid  oi  hardship  and  almost 

free  from  discomfort  or  inconvenience.  Perhaps  the  shooting  of  a 
bear  or  a  moose  caught  sw  imming  the  river  w  ill  lia\  e  enlivened  the 


Jit  Tort  Selkiik 


.'S7UH12I 


38 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


way.  Certainly  a  study  of  the  fast  disappearing  remnants  of  great 
aboriginal  tribes  will  have  been  profitable  and  entertaining.  Even 
should  fortune  fail  to  smile  on  the  adventurer,  he  is  sure  to  carry 
through  life  the  recollection  of  a  pleasant  and  easy  journey  to  the 
land  of  gold. 


„*..* 


J*' 


'-"  -l^r    **,y*  *■      ''  >*»>;*'**" 


THE  "ALICE"   LANDING   SUPPLIES  AT  DAWSON. 


For    any     information     regarding    the    Yukon     and 
Klondike  districts,  apply  to  the 


ALASKA   COMMERCIAL   COMPANY, 

310  Sansome  Street,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


THE  COOK'S  INLET  TRIP. 


A  Comparatively  New  Source  of  Wealth  Having  Great 

Possibilities.     Hydraulic  Mining  to  be  the  Particular 

Feature.      Rich    Gravel   Deposits,   Active   Volcanoes 

and  a  Balmy  Climate. 

With  the  vast  wealth  of  the  Yukon  district  in  view  one  must 
remember  that  there  are  other  parts  of  Alaska  containing  untold 
riches,  which,  from  the  latest  reports,  bid  fair  to  rival  the  golden 


■ 


THE    BELLE  c  >F   THE    TUK<  IN 


Klondike.  The  new  district  is  known  as  Cook's  Inlet,  but  it  differs 
in  almost  every  respect  from  the  Yukon  district.  It  is  lure  that 
hydraulic  mining  should  be  the  great  feature,  as  the  results  obtain- 
able from  this  system  will  be  almost  incredible.  Since  the  discovery 
of  gold  in  this  district  no  work  has  been  done,  practically,  other 
than  with  the  pick  and  shovel,  yet  the  results,  as  will  be  shown,  are 
most  encouraging.  Through  the  use  of  the  latest  improved  Indian 
lie  machinery  and  the  appliances  connected  with  it.  a  ea  oi 

gold-producing  gravel   should    soon   be   opened   and.    successfully 
prospected. 


4o  THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 

The  commencement  of  the  trip  to  Cook's  Inlet  is  made  from 
San  Francisco  via  the  steamers  of  the  Pacific  Coast  Steamship  Com- 
pany as  far  as  Sitka.  The  ocean  voyage  is  one  of  pleasure,  and  there 
are  many  things  to  interest  one  on  the  way.  At  Sitka  connection  is 
made  with  the  well-equipped  steamers  of  the  Alaska  Commercial 
Company  and  the  haven  of  the  prospector  is  reached  after  a  delight- 
ful voyage. 

r^  _^^^     The  Russians  always  esteemed  Cook's 

Inlet  as  the  most  pleasant  portion  of 
j)  J\   DCIlQntlUI  SPOt   (       Alaska  in  the  summer  season,  with  its 

bright  skies  and  well-wooded  shores.  It 
stretches  far  inland  in  a  northeasterly  direction  and  is  quite  out  of 
the  region  of  the  fogs  which  prevail  on  the  coast.  Cook's  Inlet 
is  situated  about  500  miles  west  of  Sitka  and  cuts  back  into  the 
mainland  toward  the  Yukon  Valley  about  200  miles.  It  is  fed  on  the 
east  by  the  Kussiloff  and  Kenai  rivers  and  on  the  north  by  the  Kem- 
nick,  Shushitna,  Chuitna  and  many  other  smaller  streams. 

The  Inlet  lies  between  the  59th  and  62d  parallels  of  north  lati- 
tude and  the  150th  and  154th  meridians  of  west  longitude.  Its 
greatest  width,  from  Port  Graham  to  the  West  Shore,  is  about  60 
miles  and  its  length  about  165  miles. 

I'sxw®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®     ^e  I11^  *s  renowned  for  its  scenery 
fa  n\  c  ®     wmcn    Captain    Cook    was    first    to 

extol.     He  discovered  the  great  estu- 


®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®  ary  during  his  search  for  a  passage  to 
Hudson  Bay,  passing  the  south  point  of  Kenai  Peninsula  on  the 
birthday  of  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  May  21,  1778.  Captain  Cook 
took  possession  in  the  name  of  His  Majesty,  and  buried  coins  and 
records  in  a  bottle  at  Possession  Point  at  the  head  of  the  Inlet,  and 
Vancouver  searched  for  these  records  in  vain. 

Cook's  Inlet  is  the  finest  Alaskan  pleasure  ground  for  scientists, 
sportsmen,  anglers,  artists  and  yachtsmen,  and  its  climate  enhances 
all  attractions. 

(^j®®®®®®®®®®^®^®®®®    ^    chain    of    active    volcanoes    extends 

along  the  west  shore.  Iliamna,  the  great 
volcano  of  the  Inlet,  12,066  feet  high, 
®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®  was  named  Miranda,  the  Admirable,  by 
the  Spanish  navigators.  It  is  snow  clad,  but  steam  and  smoke  issue 
from  two  craters  near  the  summit,  and,  when  arrested  for  any  time, 
frequent  earthquakes  are  felt.  Many  hot  springs  are  situated  on  the 
slopes,  and  the  heat  furnishes  a  luxuriant  growth  of  trees  in  the  val- 
leys and  ravines.  The  natives  have  many  superstitions  concerning 
it.  There  are  other  volcanoes  in  the  district,  some  of  which  are 
active  and  some  whose  fires  are  extinct. 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERi  IAL  COMPANY 


41 


<?®®®®®®^^  .     During  the  months  of  April  to  <  >ctober, 

ij|  Balmy  Climate  1  j"cflusiv.y ,the  wea*er;sas  p^sam  as 

g  one  could  reasonably  desire.  No  snow 
®<^&^^s^s^S(S(s^^i&s^(s)  falls,  and,  while  it  rains  occasionally,  the 
weather  is  not  at  all  gloomy  or  disagreeable.  As  a  matter  of  com- 
parison many  residents  there  have  expressed  the  opinion  that  they 

would   prefer   the   weather  there   during   these    months   to   that    of 
Chicago,  Philadelphia  or  New  York.    Considerable  snow  falls  din- 
ing the   winter  months   and   the   temperature   falls  as   low   as   ten 
degrees  below  zero.^   In  reality  the  weather  is  not  mo  r<    in 

winter  than  that  in  parts  of  Dakota,  Minnesota  and  Michigan. 

There  is  an  abundance  of  timber,  much  of  which  is  suitable  for 
lumber.  Early  in  the  history  of  the  Inlet  gold  was  found  in  small 
quantities  all  along  the  shores  and  tributaries  of  the  Inlet,  but  no 
extensive  prospecting  was  done  until  four  years  ago.  Then  gold 
was  found  in  paying  quantities  on  Resurrection  Creek  in  Turnagain 
Arm,  and  soon  after  the  discovery  a  rich  placer  mine  was  made 
twelve  miles  above  this,  around  the  present  site  of  Sunrise  City. 
These  mines  have  yielded  during  the  last  season's  work  about  $340,- 
000.  But  little  prospecting  was  done  in  the  Inlet  in  1897  on  account 
of  the  excitement  resulting  from  the  gold  discoveries  on  the  Yukon, 
but  a  few  miners  visited  the  Shushitna,  which  is  the  largest  of  the 
rivers  of  the  Inlet,  and  heads  in  the  same  range  of  mountains 
drained  by  Forty  Mile  Creek.  Coarse  gold  was  found  in  several 
places  and  good  finds  are  anticipated  in  this  river  when  thorough 
prospecting  is  done,  as  well  as  in  many  other  of  the  streams  empty- 
ing into  the  Inlet  and  which  show  good  indications  at  their  mouths. 
^^#^_^^xs^X5)(j)(jXj)(jxy^     Tyoonock  is  the  head  of  deep-water  navi- 

I  Vho  t»ttl*tn*HK  (I  gation  for  ocean-g°inS  steamers-  From 
$  CIlC  9?lll?lll?lli»  |    this  pomt  a  ijght-draft  steamer  takes  pas- 

®(«X»X»X»)®®®®(«^^  sengers  to  the  various  points  around  the 

Inlet.  This  is  the  main  supply  station  for  the  miners  in  the  Inlet, 
branch  stores  being  located  at  Hope  City,  Sunrise,  Knik  and  Shu- 
shitna, the  latter  being  thirty  miles  up  the  river.  All  classes  of 
mining  supplies,  tools,  provisions,  and  clothing  necessary  for  the 
climate  are  carried. 

Saldovia,  on  Kachemak  Bay,  is  a  trading  station,  and  has  a 
population  of  about  fifty  natives. 

Homer,  which  is  a  postofhee  station,  situated  sixteen  miles 
above  Saldovia,  is  the  headquarters  of  a  mining  company.  It  has 
a  store  and  warehouses  and  a  permanent  population  of  about  six 
people. 


42  THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


Anchor  Point  is  also  the  headquarters  of  a  mining  company 
and  has  a  store  and  a  population  of  about  six  men. 

Nenilchik,  or  Munina,  is  a  Russian  settlement  about  twenty- 
five  miles  above  Anchor  Point,  and  has  a  population  of  about  one 
hundred  people. 

Kusillof  and  Kenai  are  salmon  canneries,  employing,  during 
the  fishing  season,  several  hundred  men;  during  the  winter  the 
watchmen  alone  remain. 

Turnagain  Arm,  eighty  miles  in  length,  which  is  the  northeast 
arm  of  Cook's  Inlet,  is  quite  an  extensive  bay,  but  has  rather  a 
narrow  channel. 

The  rivers  of  Cook's  Inlet  are  merely  creeks,  none  of  them 
being  navigable  except  to  the  limit  of  tide  water.  The  largest  are 
the  Beluga,  Shushitna  and  Knik.  Small  vessels  can  enter  these  upon 
the  high  water  as  far  as  the  tide  limit,  but  only  on  high  water  as 
each  has  a  bar  or  shoal  at  its  mouth.  The  Chuitna,  Cuskitan,  Cres- 
son  and  Kenai  are  mere  creeks. 
h®&&®®®®®@^^  The  south  side  of  Kachemak 

m,  1         *  ^1       rr^  X    Bay  is  mountainous  and  car- 

the  Country  1  n.J  three  large  glacierS|  one 

)  of  which  is  more  than  thirty 
miles  long.  The  formation  is  mostly  basalt.  The  north  side  is  an 
elevated  bench,  from  fifty  to  one  thousand  feet  high,  carrying 
numerous  seams  of  lignite  coal.  From  McNeal's  Canyon  to  Anchor 
Point,  a  distance  of  forty  miles,  the  whole  shore  is  filled  with  coal. 
It  answers  well  for  local  consumption. 

On  the  plateau  above  are  many  lakes  ranging  from  one  acre  up 
to  several  hundred  acres  in  area.  They  are  natural  reservoirs  and 
lie  one  above  the  other  in  such  positions  as  to  be  easily  ditched  into 
each  other.  For  hydraulic  purposes  they  are  unexcelled  as  their 
elevation  is  great  enough  to  give  all  the  pressure  required  and  the 
labor  of  connecting  them  will  be  small. 

^^^^^y^^$^^i^i)(i)      In  this  connection  mining  here  differs 
\  E«/i«*«iitA  msHtMA  «      vastly  from  that  in  the  Yukon  district. 

§  hydraulic  mining  $   rru  ?  .    .   ..     t.         , ,  ,    .. 

(g  ihe  introduction  of  improved  hydraulic 
mining  machinery  will  undoubtedly 
prove  of  immense  value  to  those  who  can  afford  the  expense  of  the 
first  cost.  Heretofore  most  of  the  mining  work  has  been  done  by 
the  crude  process  of  the  pick  and  shovel,  from  which,  however, 
excellent  results  have  been  obtained.  Capital  is  needed  in  this  prac- 
tically virgin  district  to  develop  its  immense  resources.  The  gravel 
is  easily  worked,  and  by  the  use  of  modern  machinery  and  appli- 
ances the  results  should  be  simply  marvelous. 


THE  ALAS  K.I  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY  43 

®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®    Between  Tyoonock  and  Chuitna  the 

SRith  fiMO^I  IkttCKiK  •    Plateau  is  formed  of  gravel  up  nearly 
p  l\*n  wrav«l  UC|WMI>  |   to  the  grass  root.  The  gravel  depi 

®®®®®®®®®®€^^  is  tine,  bul  t\-w  large  boulders  being 

seen.  Lake  Como,  lying  upon  the  bluff  within  three  hundred 
of  the  beach,  has  an  area  of  some  twenty  acres  ami  a  depth  of  forty 
feet.  Only  a  short  distance  west  of  Lake  Como  lies  another,  the 
second  of  the  series  of  lakes  which  extend  in  a  chain  toward  the 
mountains  for  a  distance  of  thirty  miles.  The  gravel  deposits  are 
very  extensive,  and  recent  developments  -L<  >\\  that  they  carry  gold 
to  a  value  of  twenty-five  cents  and  more  per  cubic  yard.  Some  pros- 
pecting by  careful  men  has  keen  done  in  tin-.  d<  posits  and  has 
shown  values  of  several  dollars  per  cubic  yard.  Experienced  men 
are  of  the  opinion  that  the  -old  is  very  evenly  distributed  through- 
out the  entire  mass  of  gravel. 

The  facilities  for  conducting  an 
(•)  g^    operation     anywhere     along     the 

I  facilities  fOr   OpCrdtittd  |    west  shore  in  the  vicinity  of  Tyoo- 

nock  or  Chuitna  are  excellent. 
The  monthly  mail  steamer  anchors  within  three  hundred  feet  of  the 
shore  at  Tyoonock  and  readily  discharges  supplies.  The  steamer 
"Perry"  acts  as  a  tender  for  the  mail  steamer  and  transports  any 
cargo  it  brings  to  any  part  of  the  Inlet.  At  high  water  the  "Perry," 
being  flat  bottomed,  can  come  so  near  the  shore  that  the  falling  tide 
will  leave  her  high  and  dry  so  that  any  cargo  can  be  readily  dis- 
charged. The  situation  of  this  section  is  such  that  mining  opera- 
tions can  be  carried  on  easily  and  conveniently. 

As    a    gold    field    Turnagain    Arm    must 
f®0®®0  ^jl    undoubtedly  prove  to  be  a  success.  About 

§  Curtiagaifi  Jlrtll  fl  two  thousand  people  went  there  last 
lk.(^&&mm&$®&&M  spring,  but  only  about  fifty  per  cent  of 
them  made  any  money,  for  the  reason  that  the  majority  of  them  were 
ignorant  of  mining,  roamed  around  like  lost  sheep  or  else  stayed  in 
camp  and  grumbled.  The  real  workers  made  money.  A  party  of 
five  men  opened  up  a  piece  of  ground  on  one  of  the  tributaries  of 
Six  Mile  Creek,  and  closed  the  season  with  twenty-six  thousand 
dollars  to  their  credit. 

Another  miner,  on  Lynx  Creek,  spent  about  two  thousand  dol- 
lars opening  his  claim  and  cleaned  up  more  than  thirty  thousand 
dollars.  His  work  was  preliminary,  getting  ready  to  work,  rather 
than  working  as  he  can.  in  the  future.  At  least  one  hundred 
others  realized  from  a  few  hundred  to  several  thousand  dollars  as 
the  result  of  their  work. 


44 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


Several  hundred  thousand  dollars  have  been  taken  from  the 
district  during  the  past  season,  just  how  much  cannot  be  told  defi- 
nitely. The  field  is  without  a  doubt  a  splendid  one,  but  operations 
should  be  carried  on  upon  a  much  larger  scale.  The  use  of  hydrau- 
lic mining  machinery  and  appliances  is  particularly  recommended, 
for  the  reason  that  the  situation  will  admit  of  advantageous  work 
and  there  is  no  use  of  taking  fifty  years  to  do  what  can  be  done  in 
five  years.  An  experienced  mining  expert  has  given  his  opinion 
that  the  future  will  prove  this  district  to  be  a  better  and  richer  field 
than  the  Yukon.  As  he  aptly  expressed  it,  "Two  to  three  ounces 
of  gold  per  day  for  each  man  in  the  Turnagain  Arm  district  is  better 
than  ten  ounces  would  be  in  the  Yukon  country." 


BIKD'S-EYE  VIEW   OF    KADIAK,  ALASKA. 


The     Hopkins     Alaska     Gold 
Mining    Company    owns    six- 

fiopkins  mining  Company  !•    teen  hundred  acres  of  placer 

§®®(5X5)®®«x^^  ground    on   the   west   side    of 

Cook's  Inlet.  It  is  on  an  elevated  bench  from  seventy-five  to  one 
hundred  and  fifty  feet  above  high  tide  and  is  all  gravel  from  the  sur- 
face down  to  bedrock.  They  place  the  value  of  their  gravel  at  from 
twenty-five  to  fifty  cents  per  cubic  yard  throughout  the  entire 
deposit.  A  large  degree  of  their  prospecting  has  shown  much  more, 
but  they  are  fully  satisfied  with  an  average  of  twenty-five  cents, 
which  they  consider  is  better  than  five  dollars  per  cubic  yard  would 
be  in  the  Yukon  country.  They  consider  that  fifty  cents  per  cubic 
yard  is  a  bonanza. 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPAXY 


4S 


®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®      They  do  not  have  to  burn  cord 

k  Other  mining  Properties  1   wood  to  thaw  out  the  -rfiv'  '■ 

®  ®      Hydraulics  can  be  worked  from 

®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®'  •;  '  •       ,       • 

May  to  November  inclusive. 
The  Gladhow,  Edlunt,  Sneezer,  Hamlin,  Johnson,  Hula  Hula, 
Block  and  all  other  claims  on  Mills,  Canon,  Lynx  and  other  creeks 
tributary  to  Six  Mile  and  Resurrection  creeks  have  done  well  and 
made  money.  The  ground  is  considered  good  for  from  two  to  three 
ounces  per  man  each  day,  and  as  yet  the  ground  is  hardly  touched. 

Nuggets  weighing  as  high  as  six 
ounces  have  been  taken  out.  A  party 
•  cleaned  up  a  three  days'  run  and 
X?)®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®  took  out  two  thousand  four  hundred 
dollars,  the  majority  of  which  was  in  large  nuggets.  Coarse  gold 
predominates  and  the  work  of  getting  it  out  is  comparatively  easy. 
There  is  plenty  of  room  and  plenty  of  work  there  for  good  men 
who  understand  the  business  or  are  willing  to  learn  it.  This  class 
of  men  with  improved  machinery,  necessary  supplies  and  a  proper 
outfit  of  clothes  and  provisions,  all  of  which  they  can  obtain  in  San 
Francisco  at  the  very  lowest  rates,  can  through  hard  work  accom- 
plish a  fortune  within  a  reasonable  length  of  time. 


TllK  STEAMER  "  BELLA.' 


THE  MAIL  ROUTE. 


Interesting  Information  Regarding  the  Trip  to  Sitka  and 

St.  Michael,  with  Authentic  Notes  about  Mount  St. 

Elias,  the   Alaskan   Alps,   Karluk,   Unga,  Unalaska 

and  Other  Points. 

Tourists  or  prospectors  who  desire  to  go  to  St.  Michael  Island 
by  what  is  popularly  known  as  the  Mail  Route  can  do  so  via  the 
steamships  of  the  Pacific  Coast  Steamship  Company  as  far  as  Sitka, 
where  connection  is  made  with  the  fast  steamships  of  the  Alaska 
Commercial  Company.  The  trip  from  San  Francisco  to  Sitka  is  an 
ideal  one.  The  summer  excursions  to  this  point  are  known  to  trav- 
elers all  over  the  world.  The  steamship  company  carries  the  United 
States  mail  and  always  calls  at  Mary  Island,  Wrangel,  Juneau, 
Douglass  Island,  Killisnoo  and  frequently  at  Glacier  Bay  and  other 
points  of  interest.  The  trip,  on  what  is  called  the  outside  passage, 
takes  from  seven  to  eight  days,  but  when  the  steamship  stops  at 
Seattle  about  three  more  days  are  necessary  to  complete  the  journey. 
The  ocean  voyage  north  is  not  by  any  means  devoid  of  interest. 
There  are  various  modes  of  enjoyment  on  the  steamers;  new  and 
sometimes  lasting  friendships  are  formed,  and,  altogether,  the  trip 
is  replete  with  pleasure. 

g(JXJ)GX5)®®^^  Sitka  is  the  capital  and  the  seat 

I  TU*  <7*Mt*\   Al   Ulacka   I      of  government   of  the   Territory 

P^CapitO^  of  Alaska.     It  is  situated  on  the 

west  coast  of  Baranof  Island  and 
is  the  official  residence  of  the  Governor,  United  States  District 
Judge,  and  other  territorial  officers.  It  formerly  was  the  home  port 
for  the  United  States  men-of-war  detailed  for  protective  duty  in 
Northern  waters,  and  the  marines  are  quartered  on  shore.  The 
town  is  built  on  level  land  at  the  mouth  of  Indian  River  and  at  the 
foot  of  Mount  Verstovoi.  Lincoln  is  the  main  street  and  it  extends 
from  the  government  wharf  to  the  old  Russian  sawmill  and  The 
Governor's  Walk,  a  beach  road  built  by  the  Russians,  and  continues 
to  the  Point,  a  half  mile  distant.  A  large  parade  ground  fronts  the 
harbor.  Mail  steamers  generally  remain  here  twenty-four  hours. 
Ships'  time  is  one  hour  in  advance  of  local  time,  a  fact  that  should 
be  remembered.  The  Greek  Cathedral  Church,  the  Indian  village, 
the  block  houses  and   Russian   cemeterv,   the   Sitka  Mission   and 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COM  I' AX  Y 


47 


Industrial  School,  the  Sitka  Museum  and  the  park  along  the  banks 
of  Indian  River  are  the  chief  objects  of  interest.  There  are  several 
stores  there  where  unique  Alaskan  curios  may  be  purchased  as 
souvenirs. 

The  rainfall  at  Sitka  is  generally  quite  heavy,  hence  an 
umbrella,  a  gossamer  or  a  mackintosh  will  be  found  very  conve- 
nient.   Heavy  shoes  and  warm  underwear  are  also  essential. 

^^i ......  .    At    Sitka    connection    is    marie 

teanm  ;  "Ith.  thfe  *"™*fc  ot  the 

Alaska  Commercial  Company. 
These    steamships    have    been 
built  especially  for  the  Alaskan  trade  and  are  in  every  respect  emi- 


A    WINTHU    SCKNK   ON    THE    KLONDIKE. 


nently  qualified  to  fill  every  requirement.  The  cabin  accommoda- 
tions are  ample  and  comfortable  in  every  respect  and  the  table 
service  is  not  excelled  in  any  of  the  leading  metropolitan  hotels. 
They  are  all  of  the  most  modern  style  of  marine  architecture  and 
their  equipments  are  in  every  way  unsurpassed.  This  is  best  attested 
to  by  the  passengers  who  have  been  carried  to  and  from  their  desti- 
nations in  years  past. 

Here  commences  what  is  probably  the  most  interesting  part  of 
the  northern  trip.  The  steamship  passes  swiftly  over  the  deep,  still 
waters  of  the  Pacific  giving  ever  and  anon  glimpses  of  scenery  that 
would  well  rival  that  of  Switzerland.    The  mountain  peaks  are  clad 


48  THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


mt.  $t,  €lia$ 


in  a  mantle  of  misty  purple,  and  those  in  the  far  perspective  are 
wrapped  in  shrouds  of  snow,  making  a  vista  that  is  majestic.  The 
first  landing  place  is  Yakutat,  which  is  two  hundred  and  twenty 
miles  distant  from  Sitka. 

It  is  from  near  this  point  that  Prince  Luigi, 
of  Savoy,  started  to  make  his  memorable  and 
successful  ascent  of  Mount  St.  Elias.     This 
is  probably  the  highest  mountain  in  Alaska, 
and,  indeed,  is  one  of  the  half  dozen  loftiest  peaks  on  the  globe, 
reaching  the  remarkable  height  of  about  twenty  thousand  feet.    A 
remarkable  feature  of  this  mountain  is  that  it  practically  springs  at 
once  from  the  level  of  the  Pacific  Ocean  so  there  is  nothing  to 
detract  from  its  picturesque  effectiveness.    Vitus  Bering  first  sighted 
this  mountain  on  St.  Elias'  day  and  so  gave  it  the  name  which  it 
bears.    It  is  constantly  covered  with  a  mantle  of  ice  reaching  down 
almost  to  the  sea-level  and  arises  in  pyramid  form,  straight,  regular 
and  massive,  to  three  times  the  height  of  Mount  Washington,  which 
is  the  giant  of  the  White  Mountain  Range  of  New  Hampshire. 
Only  the  Himalayas  and  the  Andes  exceed  it  in  altitude.     A  won- 
derful feature  of  this  mountain  is  the  Agassiz  Glacier,  which  is  esti- 
mated to  be  twenty  miles  in  width  and  fifty  miles  in  length,  cover- 
ing an  area  of  a  thousand  square  miles.     On  any  clear  day  Mount 
St.  Elias  is  visible  one  hundred  and  sixty  miles  at  sea.    It  is  one  of 
the  grandest  scenic  wonders  of  the  world. 
-gQ(5Xjxg@@(j;@Q@@£)     There  are  but  two  indentations  in  the  plateau 
bordering  the   ocean   from   Cross   Sound  to 
Yakutat  Bay,  and  these  have  no  commercial 
importance.    The  plateau  supports  four  great 
peaks  ranging  from  ten  thousand  to  fifteen  thousand  five  hundred 
feet  in  height.    The  Crillon  and  La  Perouse  glaciers  join  and  front 
on  the  ocean  for  two  miles  just  north  of  Icy  Cape.    The  bay  always 
contains  much  floating  ice  from  the  glaciers  at  its  head,  and  a  heavy 
surf  beats  on  the  St.  Elias  shore.     Yakutat  Village  contains  some 
original  Tlingit  lodges  and  the  Yakutat  women  are  the  finest  basket 
weavers  on  the  coast.     In  the  vicinity  there  is  much  gold-bearing 
black  sand  and  also  coal  deposits,  which,  but  for  the  difficulty  of 
loading  ships  in  that  bay,  would  supply  coal  for  all  of  Alaska. 
®®^®SX^®SX^®®(^$®^  Two     hundred    and     fifty 

I  nucbck  ana  the  em*  *»  j   ™^T  ™?££ 

which  is  at  the  entrance  of 
Prince  William's  Sound.  The  old  Russian  trading  post  was  known 
as  the  Redout  Constantine.    The  furs  of  the  Copper  River  country 


Yakutat  Bay 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


49 


are  brought  to  Nuchek,  where  there  is  the  station  of  the  Alaska 
Commercial  Company.  Orca  and  Odiac  arc  also  trading  stations 
situated  on  the  sound.  The  Chugach  Alps  surrounding  Prince 
William's  Sound  hold  sonic  of  the  grandest  scenery  of  the  Alaska 
coast,  and  the  tide-water  glaciers  in  the  recesses  of  the  sound  even 
surpass  those  of  southeastern  Alaska.  The  glaciers  take  on  a  rose 
red  tint  in  a  certain  light  which  is  in  picturesque  contrast  to  their 
usual  immaculate  tone  of  white. 

The  next  point  the  steamer  touches  at 
is   Homer,   in   Cook's   Inlet,   which   is 
about  one  hundred  and  thirty-two  miles 
^®®®(«X?xS)®®^^  distant    from    Nuchek.     It    is    at    the 

mouth  of  Katchemak  Bay,  which  is  sometimes  called  Coal  Bay.  A 
postoffice  and  a  trading  station  are  located  lure. 


fiomer  and  Kodiak  : 


FORTY   MII.E  POST. 


Then  the  steamer  speeds  onward  to  Kodiak,  which  is  a  beauti- 
ful spot  and  is  a  general  station  of  the  Kodiak  district.  This  port 
boasts  of  two  wharves,  several  warehouses,  many  frame  buildings 
and  a  Russian  church.  There  are  no  saloons  there  as  it  is  against 
the  law  to  sell  liquors.  Kodiak  is  a  coaling  station  for  the  steamers 
and  also  the  general  depot  of  the  district  for  the  furs  that  are 
brought  in  by  the  Indians  for  sale.  There  are  but  scattered  groves 
of  trees  in  the  neighborhood  of  Kodiak  as  the  dense  forests  of  the 
northwest  coast  finally  cease  at  the  line  of  the  Kenai  Peninsula.  The 
shores  beyond  that  line  are  covered  with  grasses,  shrubs  and  thick 
mosses,  that,  freshened  by  perpetual  fog  and  rain,  are  so  brilliantly 
and  intensely  green  as  to  dazzle  the  eye.     It  is  here  that  the  dug-out 


5o  THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 

canoe  disappears  and  boats  of  sea  lion  or  walrus  hide  stretched  over 
driftwood  frames  replace  them.  The  bidarka,  a  narrow  shell  pointed 
at  either  end,  carries  one  or  two  men,  who  sit  each  in  a  small  hatch, 
furnished  with  an  apron  that  fastens  around  his  body,  and  these 
bladders  ride  the  roughest  seas  safely.  Women  and  children  are 
even  packed  beneath  the  oarsman's  feet  for  short  voyages. 

Lutke  called  these  bidarkans  the  "Cossacks  of  the  Sea,"  and 
Billings  wrote,  "If  perfect  symmetry,  smoothness  and  proportion 
constitute  beauty,  they  are  beautiful  beyond  anything  that  I  ever 
beheld."  They  also  have  the  oomiak  or  large  open  walrus  hide 
boats,  as  a  family  and  trading  canoe,  and  these  two  craft,  with  slight 
modifications,  are  in  use  from  Kodiak  around  to  the  Arctic  coast. 

t)®®®®®®  A  distance  of  ninety  miles  inter- 
~j  i„  ^-s^i..,  t**  G)  venes  between  Kodiak  and  Kar- 
luk  which  is  the  greatest  sal- 
mon  fisHng  station  in  the 
world.  Two-thirds  of  the  entire  salmon  pack  of  Alaska  are  fur- 
nished from  the  waters  of  the  Karluk  River.  This  river  is  sixteen 
miles  long,  from  one  hundred  to  six  hundred  feet  wide,  and  less 
than  six  feet  deep.  These  figures  give  the  dimensions  of  the  solid 
mass  of  salmon  that  used  to  ascend  the  Karluk  to  a  mountain  lake 
before  canners  came  with  traps  and  gill-nets  in  1884.  A  single  haul 
of  the  seine  has  beached  at  least  sixty  thousand  salmon.  The  hun- 
dreds of  Chinese,  Greek,  Italian,  Portuguese  and  Americans  con- 
gregated there  constitute  the  most  untrammeled  communities  any- 
where under  one  flag  from  May  to  September  of  each  year.  There  is 
much  agricultural  land  in  the  vicinity  and  cattle  graze  the  year 
round,  the  thermometer  never  recording  zero,  and  snow  lying  on 
the  ground  but  for  a  short  time.  This  is  the  headquarters  of  the 
Alaska  Packers'  Association. 

®<sXsXS>®®®<^^  After  leaving   Karluk   the   steamer 

\   iiua*    *.***  t*a   m;u.,  fa       proceeds  to  Unga,  a  distance  of  two 

hundred  and  fifty-five  miles,  the  trip 

being  of  a  pleasant  and  interesting 
nature. 

Unga  is  one  of  the  principal  stations  of  the  Alaska  Commercial 
Company.  It  has  a  store  and  warehouses  there  and  employs  a  large 
number  of  men.  The  Apollo  Consolidated  Mining  Company,  which 
is  one  of  the  largest  gold  quartz  producing  mines  in  Alaska,  is 
located  at  Unga.  It  is  worked  through  a  tunnel  six  thousand  feet 
long,  from  which  a  shaft  has  been  sunk  to  a  distance  of  more  than 
four  hundred  feet.  One  hundred  and  twenty  men  are  on  the  pay 
roll  of  the  company.  Popoff  Island,  opposite  Unga,  is  the  head- 
quarters of  the  cod-fishing  fleet,  and  there  are  large  warehouses 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


5* 


there  for  the  salting  and  storing  of  fish.     A  coal  mine  on   Unga 
Island  furnishes  sufficient  fuel  for  local  consumption. 

By  a  regulation  of  the  United  States  Treasure  Department, 
only  natives  are  allowed  to  hunt  the  sea  otter,  and  therefore  man. 
white  men  have  married  native  wives,  thetvl>\  becoming  natives  in 
the  eye  of  the  law.  The  revenue  derived  from  the  sea  otter  trade  on 
this  island  is  said  to  average  about  seven  hundred  dollars  a  year 
to  every  family. 


COURT   YAH!)  AT   ST.    MICHAEL. 


)®(i£)@(i)@&$®®^®  From  Unga  to  Unalaska  is  two  hundred  and 
seventy-two  miles.  This  is  the  coaling  station 
for  the  steamers  on  the  route  to  St.  Michael 
;X»XsXsXiXs)®®®  isian(i  Jt  is  on  the  chain  of  Aleutian  Islands. 
Unalaska  is  known  to  be  rich  in  both  gold  and  silver  mines.  There 
is  a  large  lake  of  sulphur  within  its  borders  from  which  loud  reports 
issue  at  intervals  like  the  boom  of  cannon.  Unalaska  is  the  most 
important  island  of  the  Aleutian  chain.  It  is  mountainous  through- 
out with  the  volcanic  mass  of  Makushin,  five  thousand  nine  hun- 
dred and  sixtv-one  feet,  at  its  northwest  end. 


CANADIAN  MINING  LAWS. 


Information  for  Prospectors  who  Intend  Locating 
Claims  on  British  Soil. 

®(5XiXsXsXiXSXSX5xg®®®®^     Following-  is  a  complete  copy  of  the  regula- 

I  CbC  RCQUliltiOllS  1  tionS  &overnin&  Placer  mining  along  the 
Yukon  River  and  its  tributaries  in  the 
Northwest  Territories: 

"Privy  Council,  Canada,  at  the  Government  House  at  Ottawa, 
Friday,  the  21st  day  of  May,  1897.  Present:  His  Excellency,  the 
Governor-General,  in  Council.  Whereas,  it  is  found  necessary  and 
expedient  that  certain  amendments  and  additions  should  be  made  to 
the  regulations  governing  'placer  mining'  established  by  order  of 
the  council  of  the  9th  of  November,  1889. 

"Therefore,  His  Excellency,  in  virtue  of  the  provisions  of  the 
Dominion  lands  act,  chapter  54,  of  the  Revised  Statutes  of  Canada, 
and  by  and  with  the  advice  of  the  queen's  privy  council  for  Can- 
ada, is  pleased  to  order  that  the  following  regulations  shall  be,  and 
the  same  are  hereby,  substituted  for  the  governance  of  placer  mining 
along  the  Yukon  River  and  its  tributaries,  in  the  Northwest  Terri- 
tories, in  the  room,  place  and  stead  of  those  regulations  established 
by  order  in  council  of  the  9th  of  November,  1889. 

(Signed)  "JOHN  J.  M'GEE, 

"Clerk  of  the  Privy  Council. 

"To  the  Honorable  the  Minister  of  the  Interior." 

"Bar  diggings"  shall  mean  any  part  of  a  river 
over  which  the  water  extends  when  the  water 
is  in  its  flooded  state,  and  which  is  not  cov- 
)®®®®®®®®(sX!XsXi^®     ered  at  low  water. 

"Mines  on  benches"  shall  be  known  as  bench  diggings,  and 
shall  for  the  purpose  of  defining  the  size  of  such  claims  be  excepted 
from  dry  diggings. 

"Dry  diggings"  shall  mean  any  mine  over  which  a  river  never 
extends. 

"Miner"  shall  mean  a  male  or  female  over  the  age  of  eighteen, 
but  not  under  that  age. 

"Claims"  shall  mean  the  personal  right  of  property  in  a  placer 
mine  or  diggings  during  the  time  for  which  the  grant  of  such  mine 
or  diggings  is  made. 

"Legal  post"  shall  mean  a  stake  standing  not  less  than  four 
feet  above  the  ground  and  squared  on  four  sides  for  at  least  one  foot 


1  Interpretation 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERi  I  At    i  OMPANY 


53 


from  the  top.  Both  sides  so  squared  shall  measure  at  least  four 
inches  across  the  surface.  It  shall  also  mean  an)  stump  or  tree  cut 
off  and  squared  or  faced  to  the  above  height  and  size. 

"Close  season"  shall  mean  the  period  of  the  year  during  which 
placer  mining  is  generally  suspended.  The  period  to  be  fixed  by  the 
gold  commissioner  in  whose  district  the  claim  is  situated. 

"Locality"  shall  mean  the  territory  along  a  river  (tributary  of 
the  Yukon),  and  its  affluents. 

"Mineral"  shall  include  all  minerals  whatsoever  other  than  coal. 
KsXsXsXsXSXSXS)®^^  First — Bar  diggings:    A  strip 

I  nature  and  Si«  of  Claims  |    of  'a"d  ,cx? feet  J""*  at  high 

water    mark,   and    thence   ex- 
tending across  the  river  to  its 
lowest  water  level. 


AN    ESKIMO    DOG    TEAM    IN    W1NTKK. 

Second — The  sides  of  a  claim  for  bar  diggings  shall  be  two 
parallel  lines  run  as  nearly  as  possible  at  right  angles  to  the  stream, 
and  shall  be  marked  by  four  legal  posts,  one  at  each  end  of  the  claim, 
at  or  about  high  water  mark,  also  one  at  each  end  of  the  claim  at  or 
about  the  edge  of  the  water.  One  of  the  posts  at  high  water  mark 
shall  be  legibly  marked  with  the  name  of  the  miner  and  the  date 
upon  which  the  claim  is  staked. 

Third — Dry  diggings  shall  be  ioo  feet  square,  and  shall  have 
placed  at  each  of  its  four  corners  a  legal  post,  upon  one  of  which 
shall  be  legibly  marked  the  name  of  the  miner  and  the  date  upon 
which  the  claim  was  staked. 

Fourth — Creek  and  river  claims  shall  be  500  feet  long,  meas- 
ured in  the  direction  of  the  general  course  of  the  stream,  and  shall 
extend  in  width  from  base  to  base  of  the  hills  or  benches  of  each 
side,  but,  when  the  hills  or  benches  are  less  than  100  feet  apart,  the 


54  THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 

claim  may  be  ioo  feet  in  depth.  The  sides  of  a  claim  shall  be  two 
parallel  lines  run  as  nearly  as  possible  at  right  angles  to  the  stream. 
The  sides  shall  be  marked  with  legal  posts  at  or  about  the  edge  of 
the  water  and  at  the  rear  boundaries  of  the  claim.  One  of  the  legal 
posts  at  the  stream  shall  be  legibly  marked  with  the  name  of  the 
miner  and  the  date  upon  which  the  claim  was  staked. 

Fifth — Bench  claims  shall  be  ioo  feet  square. 

Sixth — In  defining  the  size  of  claims,  they  shall  be  measured 
horizontally,  irrespective  of  inequalities  on  the  surface  of  the  ground. 

Seventh — If  any  person  or  persons  shall  discover  a  new  mine, 
and  such  discovery  shall  be  established  to  the  satisfaction  of  the  gold 
commissioner,  a  claim  for  the  bar  diggings  750  feet  in  length  may 
be  granted. 

A  new  stratum  of  auriferous  earth  or  gravel,  situated  in  a  local- 
ity where  the  claims  are  abandoned,  shall,  for  this  purpose,  be 
deemed  a  new  mine,  although  the  same  locality  shall  have  previ- 
ously been  worked  at  a  different  level. 

Eighth — The  forms  of  application  for  a  grant  for  placer  mining 
and  the  grant  of  the  same  shall  be  those  contained  in  forms  "H  and 
I"  in  the  schedule  hereto. 

Ninth — A  claim  shall  be  recorded  with  the  gold  commissioner 
in  whose  district  it  is  situated  within  three  days  after  the  location 
thereof,  if  it  is  located  within  ten  miles  of  the  commissioner's  office. 
One  extra  day  shall  be  allowed  for  making  such  record  for  every 
additional  ten  miles  and  fraction  thereof. 

Tenth — In  the  event  of  the  absence  of  the  gold  commissioner 
from  his  office,  entry  for  a  claim  may  be  granted  by  any  person 
whom  he  may  appoint  to  perform  his  duties  in  his  absence. 

Eleventh — Entry  shall  not  be  granted  for  a  claim  which  has  not 
been  staked  by  the  applicant  in  person,  in  the  manner  specified  in 
these  regulations.  An  affidavit  that  the  claim  was  staked  out  by  the 
applicant  shall  be  embodied  in  form  "H"  of  the  schedule  hereto. 

Twelfth — An  entry  fee  of  $15  shall  be  charged  for  the  first  year 
and  an  annual  fee  of  $100  for  each  of  the  following  years.  This  pro- 
vision shall  apply  to  the  locations  for  which  entries  have  already 
been  granted. 

Thirteenth — After  the  recording  of  a  claim,  the  removal  of  any 
post  by  the  holder  thereof,  or  any  person  acting  in  his  behalf,  for  the 
purpose  of  changing  the  boundaries  of  his  claim,  shall  act  as  a  for- 
feiture of  the  claim. 

Fourteenth — The  entry  of  every  holder  for  a  grant  for  placer 
mining  must  be  renewed,  and  his  receipt  relinquished  and  replaced 
every  year,  the  entry  fee  being  paid  each  year. 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERi  1. 1 1   I  OMPANY 


55 


Fifteenth — No  miner  shall  receive  a  granl  for  more  than  one 
mining  claim  in  tlu-  same  locality;  but  the  same  miner  may  hold  any 
number  of  claims  by  purchase,  and  any  number  of  miners  may  unite- 
to  work  their  claims  in  common  upon  such  terms  as  they  ma) 
arrange,  provided  such  agreement  be  registered  with  the  gold  com 
missioner  and  a  fee  of  $15  paid  for  each  registration. 

Sixteenth — Any  miner  or  miners  may  sell,  mortgage  or  dispose 
of  his  or  their  claims,  provided  such  disposal  be  registered  with  and 
a  fee  of  $2  paid  to  the  gold  commissioner,  who  shall  thereupon  give 
the  assignee  a  certificate  in  form  "J"  in  the  schedule  hereto. 


YOKON    HI VIH    S \  1  MOK 


Seventeenth — Every  miner  shall,  during  the  continuance  of  his 
grant,  have  the  exclusive  right  of  entry  upon  Ins  own  claim  for  the 
miner-like  working  thereof,  and  the  construction  of  a  residence 
thereon,  and  shall  he  entitled  exclusively  to  all  the  proceeds  realized 
therefrom;  hut  he  shall  have  no  surface  rights  therein,  and  the  gold 
commissioner  may  grant  to  the  holders  of  adjacent  claims  such 
rights  of  entry  thereon  as  may  be  absolutely  necessary  for  the  work- 
ing of  their  claims,  upon  such  terms  as  may  to  him  seem  reasonable. 


56  THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 

He  may  also  grant  permits  to  miners  to  cut  timber  thereon  for  their 
own  use,  upon  payment  of  the  dues  prescribed  by  the  regulations  in 
that  behalf. 

Eighteenth — Every  miner  shall  be  entitled  to  the  use  of  so 
much  of  the  water  naturally  flowing  through  or  past  his  claim,  and 
not  already  lawfully  appropriated,  as  shall,  in  the  opinion  of  the  gold 
commissioner,  be  necessary  for  the  due  working  thereof,  and  shall 
be  entitled  to  drain  his  own  claim  free  of  charge. 

Nineteenth — A  claim  shall  be  deemed  to  be  abandoned  and 
open  to  the  occupation  and  entry  by  any  person  when  the  same  shall 
have  remained  unworked  on  working  days  by  the  grantee  thereof 
or  by  some  person  on  his  behalf  for  the  space  of  seventy-two  hours, 
unless  sickness  or  other  reasonable  cause  may  be  shown  to  the  satis- 
faction of  the  gold  commissioner,  or  unless  the  grantee  is  absent  on 
leave  given  by  the  commissioner,  and  the  gold  commissioner,  upon 
obtaining  evidence  satisfactory  to  himself  that  this  provision  is  not 
being  complied  with,  may  cancel  the  entry  given  for  a  claim. 

Twentieth — If  the  land  upon  which  a  claim  has  been  located 
is  not  the  property  of  the  crown  it  will  be  necessary  for  the  person 
who  applies  for  entry  to  furnish  proof  that  he  has  acquired  from  the 
owner  of  the  land  the  surface  right  before  entry  can  be  granted. 

Twenty-first — If  the  occupier  of  the  lands  has  not  received  a 
patent  therefor,  the  purchase  money  of  the  surface  rights  must  be 
paid  to  the  crown,  and  a  patent  of  the  surface  rights  will  issue  to  the 
party  who  acquired  the  mining  rights.  The  money  so  collected  will 
either  be  refunded  to  the  occupier  of  the  land  when  he  is  entitled 
to  a  patent  therefor,  or  will  be  credited  to  him  on  account  of  pay- 
ment for  land. 

Twenty-second — When  the  party  obtaining  the  mining  rights 
cannot  make  an  arrangement  with  the  owner  thereof  for  the  acqui- 
sition of  the  surface  rights  it  shall  be  lawful  for  him  to  give  notice  to 
the  owner  or  his  agent  or  the  occupier  to  appoint  an  arbitrator  to  act 
with  another  arbitrator  named  by  him  in  order  to  award  the  amount 
of  compensation  to  which  the  owner  or  occupant  shall  be  entitled. 
The  notice  mentioned  in  this  section  shall  be  according  to  form  to  be 
obtained  upon  application  from  the  gold  commissioner  for  the  dis- 
trict in  which  the  lands  in  question  lie,  and  shall,  when  practicable, 
be  personally  served  on  such  owner  or  his  agents,  if  known,  or  occu- 
pant, and  after  reasonable  efforts  have  been  made  to  effect  personal 
service  without  success,  then  such  notice  shall  be  served  upon  the 
owner  or  agent  within  a  period  to  be  fixed  by  the  gold  commissioner 
before  the  expiration  of  the  time  limited  in  such  notice.  If  the  pro- 
prietor refuses  or  declines  to  appoint  an  arbitrator,  or  when,  for  any 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


57 


other  reason,  no  arbitrator  is  appointed  by  the  proprietor  in  the 
time  limited  therefor  in  the  notice  provided  in  tin's  section,  the  gold 
commissioner  for  the  district  in  which  the  lands  m  question  lie,  shall, 
on  being  satisfied  by  affidavit  that  such  notice  has  come  to  the 
knowledge  of  such  owner,  agent  or  occupant,  or  thai  such  owner, 
agent  or  occupant  willfully  evades  the  service  of  such  notice,  or 
cannot  be  found,  and  that  reasonable  efforts  have  been  mad.-  to 
effect  such  service,  and  that  the  notice  was  left  at  the  last  place  of 
abode  of  such  owner,  agent  or  occupant,  appoint  an  arbitrator  on 
his  behalf. 


^ 


Si 


IU"[  I, DIM 


Twenty-third — (a)  All  arbitrators  appointed  under  the  author- 
ity of  these  regulations  shall  In-  sworn  before  a  justice  of  the  peace 
to  the  impartial  discharge  of  the  duties  assigned  to  them,  and  they 
shall  forthwith  proceed  to  estimate  the  reasonable  damages  which 
the  owner  or  occupant  of  such  lands  according  t<>  their  several  inter- 
ests therein  shall  sustain  by  reason  of  such  prospecting  and  mining 
operations. 

(b)  In  estimating  such  damages  the  arbitrators  -hall  deter- 
mine the  value  of  the  land,  irrespectively  of  any  enhancement 
thereon  from  the  existence  of  mineral  therein. 

(c)  In  case  such  arbitrators  cannot  agree  thej  may  select  a 
third  arbitrator,  and  when  the  two  arbitrator-  cannol  agree  upon  a 


5« 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


third  arbitrator,  the  gold  commissioner  for  the  district  in  which  the 
lands  in  question  lie  shall  select  such  third  arbitrator. 

(d)  The  award  of  any  two  such  arbitrators  made  in  writing 
shall  be  final,  and  shall  be  filed  with  the  gold  commissioner  for  the 
district  in  which  the  lands  lie. 

If  any  cases  arise  for  which  no  provision  is  made  in  these  regu- 
lations, the  provisions  of  the  regulations  governing  the  disposal  of 
mineral  lands  other  than  coal  lands  approved  by  his  excellency,  the 
governor  in  council,  on  the  9th  of  November,  1889,  shall  apply. 

^g^jxj^j^jxjvj,^    The    form    of    a    certificate    of 
®    assignment  of  a  placer  mining 

I  Certificate  of  Assignment  |  claim  is  as  foiiows: 

®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®  Form  J— No 

Department  of  the  Interior,  Agency 18.  .  . 

This  is  to  certify  that  (B.  C.)  has  (or  have)  filed  an  assignment 
in  due  form  dated 18.  .  .  and  accompanied 


ON  THE   BANK  OF  THE   YUKON. 


by  a  registration  fee  of  two  dollars,  of  the  grant  to 

(A.  B.)  of of  the  right  to  mine  in 

(insert  description  of  claim) 

for  one  year  from 18.  .  . 

This  certificate  entitles  the  said (B.  C.) 

to  all  rights  and  privileges  of  the  said (A.  B.) 

in  respect  of  the  claim  assigned,  that  is  to  say,  the  exclusive  right  of 
entry  upon  the  said  claim  for  the  miner-like  working  thereof  and  the 
construction  of  a  residence  thereon,  and  the  exclusive  right  to  all 
proceeds  therefrom,  for  the  remaining  portion  of  the  year  for  which 

the  said  claim  was  granted  to  the  said (A.  B.) 

that  is  to  say  until  the 18 .  .  . 

The  said (B.  C.)  shall  be  entitled  to 

the  use  of  so  much  of  the  water  naturally  flowing  through  or  past  his 
(or  their)  claim,  and  not  already  lawfully  appropriated,  as  shall  be 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERi  IAL  (  OMPANY 


necessary  for  the  due  working  thereof,  and  to  dram  the  claim  free 
of  charge. 

This  grant  does  not  convey  to  the  said (B 

any  surface  rights  in  said  claim  or  any  rights  of  ownership  in  the 
soil  covered  by  the  said  claim,  and  the  said  grant  shall  lapse  and  be 
forfeited  unless  the  claim  is  continually  and  in  good  faith  worked 
by  the  said  (B.  C.)  or  his  (or  their)  associates. 

The  rights  hereby  granted  are  those  laid  down  in  the  Dominion 
mining  regulations,  and  are  subject  to  all  provisions  of  the  said 
regulations,  whether  the  same  are  expressed  herein  or  not. 

Gold  Commissioner. 

®  ^0       The  form  of  application  for  grant 

|  Application  for  Grant  |  for  placer  mining  claim  and  affi- 
®®®®®®tX?X^^  davit  of  applicant  is  as  follows: 

Form    H  :      I    (or    we)    of 

hereby  apply  under  the   Dominion 

mining  regulations  for  grant  of  a  claim  for  placer  mining  as  defined 

in  the  said  regulations  in (here 

describe  locality)  and  I  (or  we)  solemnly  swear: 

First — That  I  (or  we)  am  (or  are)  to  the  best  of  my  (or  our) 
knowledge  and  belief,  the  first  discoverer  (or  discoverers)  of  the 
said  deposit,  or 

Second — That    the    said    claim    was    previously    granted    to 

(here  name  the  last  grantee),  but  has 

remained  unworked  by  the  said  grantee  for  not  less  than 

Third — That  I  (or  we)  am  (or  are)  unaware  that  the  land  is 
other  than  vacant  Dominion  lands. 

Fourth — That  I  (or  we)  did  on  the day  of 

mark  out  on  the  ground  in  accordance  in  every  particular  with  the 
provisions  of  the  mining  regulations  for  the  Yukon  River  and  its 
tributaries,  the  claim  for  which  I  (or  we)  make  this  application,  and 
that  in  so  doing  I  (or  we)  did  not  encroach  on  any  other  claim  or 
mining  location  previously  laid  out  bj  any  other  person. 

Fifth — That  the  said  claim  contains  as  nearly  as  I  (or  we)  could 

measure  or  estimate  an  area  of square  feet,  and 

that  the  description  (and  sketch  if  any)  of  this  dale  hereto  attached 
signed  by  me  (or  us)  sets  (or  set)  forth  in  detail  to  the  best  of  my 
(or  our)  knowledge  and  ability  its  position,  form  and  dimensions. 

Sixth — That  I  (or  we)  make  this  application  in  good  faith  to 
acquire  the  claim  for  the  sole  purpose  of  mining,  prosecuted  b\ 
myself  (or  us)  or  by  myself  and  associates,  or  by  my  (or  our)  assigns. 


6o  THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


Sworn  before  me  at this 

day  of 18.  .  . 

(Signature) 

The  form  of  grant  for  placer  claim  is  as 
0    follows: 
|    Graitt  fOr  PlaCerS    <  Form  I :    Department  of  the  Inte- 

©SXsXSXsXsXsXsX^^  rior,    agency 

18.  .  .     In  consideration  of  the  payment  of 

the  fee  prescribed  by  clause  12  of    the  mining  regulations  of    the 

Yukon  River  and  its  tributaries  by (A.  B.) 

accompanying    his    (or    their)    application    No dated 

18...  for  a  mining  claim  in 

(here  insert  description    of    locality),  the  minister    of    the  interior 

hereby  grants  to  the  said (A.  B.)  for  the 

term  of  one  year  from  the  date  hereof  the  exclusive  right  of  entry 
upon  the  claim  (here  describe  in  detail  the  claim). 

Granted — for  the  miner-like  working  thereof  and  the  construc- 
tion of  a  residence  thereon,  and  the  exclusive  right  to  all  the  pro- 
ceeds derived  therefrom.     That  the  said (A.  B.) 

shall  be  entitled  to  the  use  of  so  much  water  naturally  flowing 
through  or  past  his  (or  their)  claim  and  not  already  lawfully  appro- 
priated as  shall  be  necessary  for  the  due  working  thereof,  and  to 
drain  his  (or  their)  claim  free  of  charge. 

This  grant  does  not  convey  to  the  said 

(A.  B.)  any  surface  right  in  the  said  claim  or  any  right  of  ownership 
in  the  soil  covered  by  the  said  claim,  and  the  said  grant  shall  lapse 
and  be  forfeited  unless  the  claim  is  continuously  and  in  good  faith 

worked  by  the  said (A.  B.)  or  his  (or  their) 

associates. 

The  rights  hereby  granted  are  those  laid  down  in  the  aforesaid 
mining  regulations  and  no  more,  and  are  subject  to  all  the  provi- 
sions of  the  said  regulations,  whether  the  same  are  expressed 
herein  or  not. 


Gold  Commissioner. 


For     any     information     regarding   the    Yukon   and 
Klondike  districts,  apply  to  the 

ALASKA   COMMERCIAL   COMPANY, 

310  Sansome  Street,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


HOW  TO  STAKE  A  CLAIM. 


Information   Regarding  the   Methods   of   Locating  Placer 
and  Quartz  Claims  in  the  Klondike  District. 

DSXSGXsXSX^^  The    reP°rt    of    the    Canadian    mining 

\   n     **i         m  •     "aws  Pu^ished  in  this  book  will  yive  to 

the  intending-  prospector  a  correct  idea 
of  the  legal  methods  to  be  pursued  in 
securing  a  mining  grant.  Now  for  the  practical  part  of  the  ques- 
tion. After  having  made  a  find  the  prospector  proceeds  to  stake  out 
his  claim.  He  must  not  exceed  one  hundred  feet  up  and  down  the 
creek,  the  general  course  of  the  valley.  The  width  of  the  claim  can 
run  from  base  to  base  of  the  hills  or  mountains.     If  there  are  no 


I 


A   TYPICAL 


previous  claims  located  on  this  particular  stream,  the  claim  is  known 
as  the  "discovery  claim,"  and  the  stakes  used  are  marked  "o".  The 
next  claim  staked  up  the  creek  is  marked  No.  I,  as  is  the  next  claim 
going  down  the  stream.  There  can  only  be  two  claims  marked  No. 
I  on  any  one  stream.  After  driving  the  four  stakes,  each  marked 
with  the  initials  of  the  locator  and  the  letters  "M.  L.",  which  means 
"mining  location,"  the  miner  must  bound  his  claim  with  cross  or 
end  line  and  then  proceed  within  sixty  days  to  file  the  claim  with  the 
Government  Recorder  at  Dawson  City.  When  recording  it  is  in 
sary  to  make  affidavit  that  the  claim  is  properly  staked,  the  date 
given,  and  that  gold  has  been  found.  The  number  of  the  claim 
must  also  be  given,  and  if  it  is  not  the  discovery  claim  it  must  be 
mentioned,  as  for  instance,  No.  I  or  No.  10  above  or  below  "discov- 
ery claim,"  as  the  case  may  be.     The  prospector  has  sixty  days  in 


62 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


which  to  prosecute  the  search  for  gold  if  a  claim  is  staked  before 
gold  is  discovered  thereon.  If  he  is  unsuccessful  at  the  expiration 
of  this  time  he  can  no  longer  hold  the  claim,  as  it  is  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  find  the  metal  in  order  to  secure  the  permanent  holding  of 
the  claim. 

A  similar  method  of  procedure  is  necessary 
in  staking  a  quartz  claim.  The  size  of  the 
claim  is  fifteen  hundred  feet  long  by  six 
hundred  feet  wide.  The  stakes  are  marked 
as  in  placer  claims,  and  the  same  rules  govern  in  regard 
to   the   rinding   of   gold   and   filing   the    claims.     After   the    miner 


T 


-V— =,'■ 


{ii.-; 


iff     I     .-.  * 

jjSte&<4 

■n 

imi'iMiii*-                    '    •  rVifcihri  Swr'niii         •**' 
-—pas*"           ^^Pu&S 

iT 

**'        ^^^^BEr   •""  -»~*T"ra*'^*WP*WW 

wkfr-z^mk 

Wi9kfW»> 

UNLOADING   AT   ST.  MICHAEL. 


has  filed  his  claim  it  is  necessary  that  he  shall  work  his 
claim  three  consecutive  months  in  each  year.  Although  they  are 
simple  these  requirements  are  imperatively  necessary  for  the  pro- 
tection of  the  miner,  for,  should  a  miner  attempt  to  work  a  claim 
without  first  properly  staking  and  recording  the  same,  anyone  could 
come  in,  work  on  the  property,  properly  stake  and  hold  the  claim, 
and  so  compel  the  first  man  to  leave.  Only  one  claim  can  be  filed 
by  a  prospector.  He  may,  however,  acquire  other  claims  by  pur- 
chase, and  the  bill  of  sale  must  be  properly  recorded  at  the  time  of 
the  transfer.  If  a  miner  abandons  a  claim  he  can.  of  course,  locate 
another  one. 


Regulations  Governing  the  Use  and  Occupancy  of  Lands 
within  the    Limits  of  the  Military  Reserva- 
tion of  Fort  St.  Michael,  Alaska. 


War  Department, 

Adjutant-General's  Office. 

Washington,  November  II,  1897. 
By  direction  of  the  Secretary  of  War  the  following  Regulations, 
governing  the  use  and  occupancy  of  lands  within  the  limits  of  the 
Military  Reservation  of  Fort  St.  Michael,  Alaska,  are  published  for 
the  information  and  guidance  of  all  concerned. 

SAM'L  BRECK, 

Adjutant-General. 


Reg2ilations  Governing  the  Use  and  Occupancy  of  La7ids  within  the 
Limits  of  the  Military  Reservation  of  Fort  St.  Michael,  Alaska. 

War  Department, 

Washington,  October  20,  1897. 

No.  1.  By  authority  of  the  President,  the  land  known  as  St. 
Michael  Island,  Alaska,  with  all  contiguous  land  and  islands  within 
100  miles  of  the  location  of  the  flagstaff  of  the  present  garrison  on 
that  island,  is  set  aside  from  the  public  lands  of  the  Territory  of 
Alaska,  and  declared  a  Military  Reservation. 

Parties  who  have,  prior  to  the  receipt  of  this  order,  located  and 
erected  buildings  on  the  land  so  reserved,  will  not  be  disturbed  in 
their  use  of  lands,  buildings  and  improvements,  nor  in  the  erection 
of  structures  needed  for  their  business  or  residence. 

No.  2.  The  Military  Reservation  above  declared,  and  the  mili- 
tary post  located  thereon,  will  be  known  as  Fort  St.  Michael,  and 
will  be  under  the  control  and  supervision    of    the    Commanding 

Officer  of  the  troops  there  stationed. 

R.  A.  ALGER, 
Secretary  of  War. 

In  the  absence  of  other  provision  of  law  and  of  all  local  civil 
officials  within  the  limits  of  the  country  surrounding  the  island  of 
St.  Michael,  and  the  mouth  of  the  Yukon  River,  the  foregoing 
described  reservation  has  been  established  for  the  security  of  life  and 
property,  the  preservation  of  order  and  the  protection  of  property 


64 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


and  business  interests.  Proper  persons,  associations,  or  corpora- 
tions already  located  on,  or  desiring  to  enter  upon  and  conduct 
legitimate  business  enterprises  within  the  limits  of  this  Military 
Reservation,  will  observe  the  following  regulations: 

No.  i.  Applications  for  permission  must  be  accompanied  by 
testimonials  of  good  character  and  standing,  and  be  made  in  writing, 
addressed  to  the  Secretary  of  War,  reciting  the  nature  of  the  busi- 
ness to  be  conducted;  the  location,  as  nearly  as  possible,  on  unoc- 
cupied land  within  the  reservation;  the  area  of  land  necessary;  num- 
ber and  character  of  buildings,  etc.,  to  be  erected,  and  probable  date 
when  occupancy  is  to  be  commenced  and  terminated.  Those 
located  on  this  reservation  at  the  time  the  reservation  was  made 
will,  in  like  manner,  present  their  application  for  permits,  and  the 


THE  HARBOR  OF  ST.   MICHAEL. 


Commanding  Officer  will  not  disturb  them  in  their  use  and  occu- 
pancy in  conformity  to  these  regulations  until  the  action  of  the 
Secretary  of  War  on  their  application  is  known. 

No.  2.  The  permit  to  be  issued  by  the  Secretary  of  War  will 
describe  the  persons,  business,  location,  etc.,  and  will  authorize  the 
grantees  to  enter  upon  the  reservation,  at  the  location  named,  and 
maintain  the  specified  business,  and  none  other.  Where  a  definite 
location  cannot  be  given  in  the  permit,  authority  will  be  given  to 
the  Commanding  Officer  of  Fort  St.  Michael  to  authorize  an 
appropriate  location;  but  no  permission  will  be  given  to  use  land 
that  was  included  under  the  original  order  as  located  and  used,  and 
no  permit  will  be  given  to  locate  on  the  land  set  apart  for  buildings, 
wharves,  parade  and  drill  grounds  for  the  post  of  Fort  St.  Michael. 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY  65 

A  plat  showing  authorized  locations  and  grounds,  with  the  name  or 
names  of  the  holders  of  permits,  will  be  kept  in  the  office  of  the 
Commanding  Officer. 

No.  3.  This  permit  will  not  be  negotiable  and  will  be  of  no 
value  or  effect  until  presented  to  and  recorded  In  the  ( Commanding 
Officer  of  Fort  St.  Michael,  and  the  location  staked  out  by  him.  It 
will  not  be  transferable  without  the  approval  of  the  Secretary  of 
War,  except  where  both  parties  to  the  transfer  are  on  the  ground 
and  one  desires  to  dispose  of  his  interest,  in  which  event  the  Com- 
manding Officer  of  Fort  St.  Michael  may  authorize  the  transfer, 
reporting  his  action  to  the  War  Department.  It  will  give  no  right  or 
title  to  ownership  of  lands  occupied  and  is  revocable  at  the  will  of 
the  Secretary  of  War. 

No.  4.  Application  for  permission  to  sell  any  improvements 
made  through  virtue  of  these  permits  must  be  made  through  the 
Commanding  Officer  of  Fort  St.  Michael  to  the  Secretary  of  War, 
and  will  only  be  approved  on  the  same  conditions  on  which  a  permit 
is  originally  issued. 

No.  5.  Persons,  associations  or  corporations  occupying 
lands,  buildings  or  privileges  under  these  permits  will  be  subject  at 
all  times  to  such  police  regulations  as  may  be  imposed  from  time 
to  time  by  the  Commanding  Officer  of  Fort  St.  Michael,  or  higher 
authority. 

No.  6.  Any  modification  of  this  permit,  after  use,  must  be 
applied  for  in  writing,  and  forwarded,  through  the  Commanding 
Officer  of  Fort  St.  Michael,  for  the  action  of  the  Secretary  of  War; 
notice  of  a  proposed  termination  of  the  permit  will  be  given  by  the 
grantee  at  least  thirty  days  before  removal,  and  upon  removal  from 
the  reservation  the  permit  will  be  surrendered  to  the  Commanding 
Officer  of  Fort  St.  Michael;  and  the  location  must  be  left  by  the 
occupants  in  good  sanitary  and  police  condition. 

No.  7.  In  case  of  naturally  restricted  landings,  sites  for  build- 
ings, shipyards,  etc.,  no  monopoly  will  be  given  to  any  person  or 
corporation,  and  no  permit  will  be  construed  to  do  this,  and  all  dis- 
agreements between  holders  of  permits,  will,  after  a  careful  hearing 
by  him,  be  settled  by  the  Commanding  Officer  of  Fort  St.  Michael. 

No.  8.  No  retail  of  distilled  spirits  on  the  reservation  will  be 
allowed;  but  this  prohibition  shall  not  include  light  wines  or  beer. 
(Section  1955,  Revised  Statutes;  Act  approved  May  17,  1884.) 

No.  9.  It  is  to  be  understood  that  these  permits  arc  issued 
Mihject  to  any  subsequent  legislation  of  Congress. 


For     any     information     regarding    the    Yukon   and 
Klondike  districts,  apply  to  the 

ALASKA   COMMERCIAL   COMPANY, 
3ioSansome  Street,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


WEATHER  ON  THE  KLONDIKE. 


Chief  Moore  Describes  the  Climate  of  Coast  and 
Interior  Alaska. 

®®gXs)®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®    Under   the   direction    of    Secretary   of 
®    /rii****!*  /7k*MAA*   ®    Agriculture   Wilson,    Chief    Moore,    of 

§  Climatic  %Mtffl$  ®  iU  w  t1     r,        i        ,     Vi- 

®  ®    the  \\  eather  Bureau,  has  made  public 

a  statement  in  regard  to  the  climate 
of  Alaska.     Mr.  Moore  says: 

"The  climate  of  the  coast  and  the  interior  of  Alaska  are  unlike 
in  many  respects,  and  the  differences  are  intensified  in  this,  as  per- 
haps in  few  other  countries,  by  exceptional  physical  conditions. 

"The  mean  temperature  of  Sitka  is  62.5,  but  little  less  than  that 
of  Washington,  D.  C.  The  rainfall  of  temperate  Alaska  is  notorious 
the  world  over,  not  only  as  regards  the  quantity  that  falls,  but  also 
as  to  the  manner  of  its  falling,  viz,  in  long  and  incessant  rains  and 
drizzles.  Cloud  and  fog-  naturally  abound,  there  being  on  an  aver- 
age but  sixty  clear  days  in  the  year.  North  of  the  Aleutian  Islands 
the  climate  becomes  rigorous  in  winter,  but  in  summer  the  differ- 
ence is  much  less  marked. 

"The  climate  of  the  interior,  including  in  that  designation  prac- 
tically all  of  the  new  country  except  a  narrow  fringe  of  coastal 
margin,  is  one  of  extreme  rigor  in  winter,  with  a  brief  but  relatively 
hot  summer,  especially  when  the  sky  is  free  from  cloud. 
®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®®©  "In  the  Klondike  region  in  midwin- 
®  tua.  uiAM/iti**  OaaIam   ®    ter  tne  sun  rises  from  9:30  to  10  a. 

Cbe  Klondike  Region  j ,  M>  and  sets  from  ,  XoJ2  p  ^  the 

)  total  length  of  daylight  being  about 
four  hours.  Remembering  that  the  sun  rises  but  a  few  degrees  above 
the  horizon  and  that  it  is  wholly  obscured  on  a  great  many  days,  the 
character  of  the  winter  months  may  easily  be  imagined. 

"We  are  indebted  to  the  United  States  Coast  and  Geodetic  Sur- 
vey for  a  series  of  six  months'  observations  on  the  Yukon  not  far 
from  the  site  of  the  present  gold  discoveries.  The  mean  temperature 
of  the  months  from  (  )ctober,  1888,  to  April,  1889,  both  inclusive,  are 
as  fallows: 

"October,  33  degrees:  November,  8;  December,  it  degrees 
below  zero;    March,  6  above;    April,  20  above.     The  daily  mean 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERi  1. 1 1.  (  OMPAK  V 


67 


temperature  fell  and  remained  below  the  freezing  point  (33  degn 
from  November  4,  [889,  to  April  21,  1890,  thus  giving  [68  da; 
the  length  of  closed  season  of  [889  90,  assuming  that  outdoor  opei 
ations  are  controlled  by  temperature  only. 

"The  lowest  temperatures  registered  during  the  winter 
Thirt)  two  degrees  below  zero  in  November,  47  below  in  Decern 
ber,  59  below  in  January,  55  below  in  February,  45  belovy  in  .March, 
and  26  below  in  April.  The  greatesl  continuous  cold  was  in  Feb- 
ruary, [880,  when  the  daily  mean  for  five  consecutive  days  was  47 
degrees  below  zero.  Greater  cold  than  that  here  noted  has  been 
experienced  in  the  United  States  for  a  very  short  time,  but  never  has 
ii  continued  so  very  cold  for  so  long  a  time. 


\ N    ESK I  Mi 


"In  the  interior  of  Alaska  winter  sets  in  as 
^  early  as  September,  when  snow  storms 
g  may  be  expected  in  the  mountains  and 
passes.  Headway  during  one  of  these 
storms  is  impossible,  and  the  traveler  who  is  overtaken  by  one  ol 
them  is  indeed  fortunate  if  he  escapes  with  his  life. 

"The  changes  of  temperature  from  winter  to  summer  are  rapid, 
owing  to  the  great  increase  in  the  length  of  the  day.  The  mean 
temperature  in  the  interior  doubtless  ranges  from  60  to  70  degrees, 
according  to  elevation,  being  highest  in  the  middle  and  lower  in  the 
Yukon  Vallev." 


SUGGESTIONS  FOR  MINERS. 


Some  Valuable    Hints    Regarding    Provisions,    Clothing, 

Shoes  and  Other  Articles  Required  for  a  Perfect  Outfit. 

■S)S)ri)fi)9<iy:iy[i)^i^i^^  The  necessity  of  proper  food 

I  for  outfitting'  expeditions  to 
I  U$e  Concentrated  $WPHe*|  Alaska  cannot  be  over-esti- 
®®®®(»X»)®®(^  mated.  The  late  riot  on  Cop- 

per River,  which  nearly  resulted  in  the  lynching  of  the  promoter  of 
the  expedition  by  the  infuriated  passengers,  owing  to  inferior  food 
supplies,  is  a  warning  which  many  should  heed.  The  hard  tramps 
over  ice,  frozen  moss  and  the  wilderness  of  the  North  are  severe 
enough  if  prospectors  are  impeded  by  the  lightest  of  supplies,  but, 
if  they  are  weighed  down  with  immense  quantities  of  inferior  goods 
instead  of  concentrated  supplies  of  the  best,  then  the  most  favorable 
conditions  are  hard  to  overcome. 

Last  year  the  writer  saw  a  man 
leave  for  the  Chilcoot  Pass  drag- 
ging after  him  600  pounds  of  sup- 
plies that  cost  him  $480.  We  saw 
another  man  with  600  pounds  of  supplies  that  cost  him  $310.  It 
would  strike  the  reader,  perhaps,  that  the  man  who  had  600  pounds 
for  $310  had  an  immense  advantage  over  the  man  who  had  600 
pounds  for  $480,  but  the  reverse  was  true.  Both  men  started  out 
with  the  same  amount  of  luggage  to  drag.  Both  men  were  going 
into  a  howling  wilderness  under  the  most  severe  conditions,  where 
any  food  that  they  might  be  forced  to  purchase  would  cost  them  a 
fortune,  and  in  many  instances  where  food  could  not  be  purchased  at 
any  price.  The  man  who  had  600  pounds  for  $310  had  food  that 
would  last  him  about  five  months.  The  man  that  had  600  pounds 
that  cost  him  $480  had  supplies  that  would  last  him  for  over  a  year. 
Not  only  that,  but  in  most  cases  his  food  was  not  only  stronger  and 
more  wholesome,  but  it  was  very  much  more  palatable. 

If  a  man  takes  a  can  of  Royal 
Baking  Powder  in,  that  cost  him 
45  cents,  as  against  a  man  who 
takes  an  inferior  brand  in,  that 
cost  him  25  cents,  the  man  with  the  can  of  Royal  Baking  Powder 
not  only  makes  better  bread,  but  probably  makes  five  times  as  much 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


bread  as  the  man  with  the  cheap  can  of  baking  powder.    Bui  jrou 
further  even  than  that;  the  man  with  the  cheap  brand  of  baking 
powder  probably  won't  make  any  bread  at  all  after  the  first  three  or 
four  days,  for  the  climatic  conditions  are  harsher  againsl   baking 
powder  than  against  anything  else,  and  it  has  been  found  thai  the 
Royal  Baking  Powder  is  the  only  baking  powder  that  will  keep  in 
Alaska.     An  appreciation  of  this  fact  was  shown  by  the  San   Fran 
cisco  Examiner  and  the  San  Francisco  Call,  who  spenl  nearly  $10,- 
ooo,  in  November,  1897,  in  fitting  out  the  United  Slates  Govern- 
ment expedition  for  the  imprisoned  whalers  in  the  Arctic  (  >cean. 
Both  the  Examiner  and  the  Call  selected  Royal  Baking  Powder. 
L.  N.  McQuesten,  the  "Father  of  Alaska,"  writes: 
"The  Royal  Baking  Powder  is  the  only  powder  that  will  endure 
the  severe  climatic  changes  of  the  Arctic  regions.     A  man  with  a 
can  of  bad  baking  powder  is  almost  helpless  in  Alaska.    Therefore, 
we  have  used  nothing  but  Royal  Baking  Powder." 

}®@®®®&&^  The  same  argument  applies  to  a  can  of 

milk.  There  is  nothing  more  precious, 
g  perhaps,  to  a  miner  in  the  Arctic  than  a 
can  of  good  condensed  milk  or  cream. 
This  is  so  well  known  in  Alaska  that  the  miners  there  will  buy  noth- 
ing but  the  "Eagle"  brand,  but  it  is  the  ignorant  miner — and  only 
the  ignorant  miner — that  is  fitting  out  in  San  Francisco  or  Seattle 
who  ever  allows  any  other  brand  to  be  foisted  upon  him.  If  he  is  an 
experienced  miner  returning,  he  has  got  to  have  the  "Gail  Borden 
Eagle  Brand."  If  he  is  an  inexperienced  miner,  possibly  some  one 
will  palm  off  a  cheap  brand  on  him,  and  he  will  find  out  when  he 
reaches  Alaska,  where  the  temperature  is  80  degrees  below  zero 
sometimes,  that  his  cheap,  inferior  milk  is  no  good. 

^®®®®®SXS®^^  The    matter   of    cereals    is    an- 

;  other  case.  It  is  known  that 
oatmeal  takes  about  fifty  min- 
utes to  cook  and  has  73  per 
cent  nutriment.  Wood  is  scarce  in  the  Arctic  and  a  fire  is  a  precious 
luxury,  and  a  miner  has  not  time  to  spend  fifty  minutes  in  cooking 
oatmeal.  Therefore,  it  has  been  found  that  "Germea"  is  the  only 
cereal  that  will  do  in  Alaska.  It  takes  three  minutes  to  cook  as 
against  oatmeal,  fifty  minutes.  It  contains  95  per  cent  nutriment  as 
against  oatmeal,  73  per  cent;  but  the  great  economy  is,  that  one 
pound  of  Germea  makes  four  pounds  of  solid  food,  and  one  pound 
of  oatmeal  makes  only  two  pounds  of  solid  food.  Again,  our  friend 
McQuesten,  the  "Father  of  Alaska,"  comes  out  and  states  in  regard 
to  Germea  as  follows: 


7o  THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 

"The  question  of  foods  in  Alaska  must  be  studied  from  many 
standpoints,  and  a  perfect  food,  meeting  all  the  requirements,  is  hard 
to  find.  I  have  recommended  Germea  to  the  miners  of  Alaska 
because  it  is  in  the  most  concentrated  form, — a  pound  of  Germea 
containing  more  nutriment  than  nearly  four  pounds  of  anything  else 
in  the  shape  of  cereals.  It  being  concentrated,  can  be  carried  in  a 
comparatively  small  package  and  does  not  burden  the  miner. 

"Next:  It  contains  more  nutriment  than  any  other  cereal,  and, 
taking  but  three  minutes  to  cook  when  oatmeal  takes  sixty,  the 
economy  in  fire,  time  and  labor  is  tremendous,  but,  above  all  things, 
it  is  a  preventive  of  scurvy. 

"As  some  form  of  cereal  is  absolutely  necessary  in  the  Arctic, 

( iermea  fills  the  bill,  in  my  opinion,  most  perfectly." 

®SX5XsX»)®(sXsXS®®®®®^  In  going  to  the  Klondike  you  want  to 

«  n  if#  *  c  T\         ®     £et  *ne  strongest  goods  that  you  can 

I  DnWtt  SHOW  TlOttr  |     for  your  money<     Therefore,  the  arti- 

®®®®®®®®@®  cle  of  California  flour,  which  is  dryer, 
contains  less  moisture  and  is  therefore  stronger,  appeals  to  most 
people  instead  of  the  moist  flour  of  the  Northwest.  Old  miners  re- 
turning from  Alaska  will  tell  you  they  cannot  use  anything  but  Cali- 
fornia flour  in  Alaska.  Owing  to  the  California  flour's  dryness  it  is 
easier  to  work,  and  it  is  only  a  short  time  off  when  nothing  but  Cali- 
fornia flour  will  be  used  in  Alaska.  A  brand  called  Sperry's 
"Drifted  Snow"  commands  in  Alaska  a  premium  over  any  other. 

®5X5Xs)®®®®®®®®®®®  There  is  more  nutriment  in 
.  g  cocoa  or  chocolate  than  in 
g  nearly  any  food  product, 
and,  if  it  is  high  grade 
cocoa  and  chocolate,  it  is  one  of  the  greatest  delicacies  known  in 
Alaska.  Chocolate  cannot  withstand  extreme  heat  or  extreme  cold 
unless  it  is  of  the  purest  quality.  Walter  Baker  &  Company's 
Cocoa  and  Chocolate  is  the  only  known  chocolate  that  will  actually 
fulfill  all  Arctic  conditions.  We  knew  of  a  whole  mining  camp 
whose  supplies  were  reduced  to  a  few  cereals  and  50  pounds  of 
Walter  Baker  &  Company's  Chocolate  that  lived  on  these  articles 
for  months  without  any  danger  of  scurvy.  Their  health  was  per- 
fect, the  miners  being  in  robust  condition  all  the  time. 

xS®  Take  the  matter  of  clothes  also; 
this  is  a  very  important  thing  to 
miners.  It  may  seem  ridiculous, 
but  with  the  temperature  80  de- 
grees below  zero  it  is  difficult  to  use  a  needle.  It  is  too  cold,  there- 
fore, when  buttons  fall  off  to  sew  them  on,  and  clothes  are  hard  to 


P.  Sf  B.  Building  Paper  | 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY  71 

manage.     There  is  a  copper  riveted  clothing  thai  1-  made  in  l 
fornia  that  will  last  indefinitely,  ami  is  particularly  adapted  t"  the 
Klondike.    (  )ne  could  go  on  ad  infinitum.    We  suggest  as  to  whal 

should  he  dour.     The  principal  Feature  to  hear  in  mind  i-.  11  \oi: 

a  well-known  brand  that  is  selling  tor  a  little  more  than  any  other 
brand,  you  may  make  up  your  mind  that  it  is  a  little  better,  tor  there 
is  some  good  reason  for  the  increased  price,  and.  in  these  da; 
competition,  the  only  Logical  reason  is  because  the  brand  must  he  a 

little  better  than  cheaper  and  unknown  g Is. 

In    the    cold,    damp    climat< 
Alaska  a  warm,  dry  shelter  is  as 
essential  to  the  existence  1  >i  1'. 
living  there  as  food  and  clothing, 
yet  Few  of  those  going  to  the  Klondike  make  any  provision  for  pos- 
sessing such  a  dwelling  place,  preferring  to  chance  it  rather  than  to 
secure  the  proper  materials  in  San  Krancisco,  where  they  are  abun 
dant  and  cheap.  The  only  lumber  to  he  procured  in  Alaska  is  rough 
sawn  and  unsized,  and  with    it    the    most  careful  carpenter  cannot 
make  a  draught-proof,  moisture-proof  building;  hut  with  this  same 
lumber  and  the   I',  and   Ik   Building  Taper,  the  unskilled  have  it  in 
their  power  to  construct  a  cabin  that  will  defy  the  cold,  damp  rains 
and  will  effectually  exclude  all  earth  moisture — a  building  warm  in 
winter,  cool  in  summer,  and  healthful  all  the  year  round. 

In  Alaska  this  paper  is  worth  its  weight  in  gold,  hut  in  San 
Francisco  a  thousand  square  feet  of  it,  enough  to  completely  line 
the  walls  and  floor  of  a  cabin,  may  he  had  for  from  three  to  eight 
dollars.  It  is  put  up  in  rolls  containing  a  thousand  square  feet  each. 
and  weighing  from  thirty  to  one  hundred  pounds — hut  a  small  addi- 
tional weight  to  a  miner's  outfit. 

The  P.  and  Ik  Building  Paper,  unlike  tar  and  rosin-sized  build- 
ing paper,  has  great  strength,  is  waterproof,  and  is  absolutely  odor- 
less, and,  in  case  of  necessity,  flour,  tea.  sugar  and  salt  may  he 
wrapped  in  it  and  conveyed  to  the  mines  without  damage,  and  the 
wrapper  then  Used  to  line  the  cabin. 

If    there    is    one    thin-    of    a!1 
things    that    miners    prospect- 
ing in  Alaska  actually  require 
$®@®®d®®^^  it  is  rubber  boots.    The  Good 

year  Rubber  Company  have  a  factory  in  San  Francisco  for  the  man- 
ufacture of  them,  and   it   is  the  opinion  of  experienced   miners  that 
the  boots  of  this  company  are  unexcelled.     The  company's  store  in 
San   h'rancisco  carries  a  complete  line  of   Hip   Muck   Leather  So 
Boots,  Crack    Proof  and  Snag   I 'roof   Hoots  of  their  own   manufac- 


Goodyear  Rubber  Company : 


72  THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


ture,  and  every  heel  has  a  guarantee  stamp  on  it.  This  company 
also  carries  a  full  stock  of  Oil  Socks,  Overshoes,  Felt  Boots,  Alaska 
Socks,  Rubber  and  Oil  Clothing,  Wool  Boots  and  Socks  and  the 
most  essential  Rubber  and  Oil  Blankets.  The  reputation  of  this 
company  is  so  high  that  the  mere  mention  of  the  name  Goodyear  is 
a  guarantee  that  the  goods  are  first  class  in  every  particular.  Mr. 
R.  H.  Pease  is  the  Pacific  Coast  Manager  for  the  Goodyear  Rubber 
Company,  and  their  offices  are  573,  575,  577,  579  Market  street,  San 
Francisco,  and  73  and  75  First  street,  Portland,  Oregon. 

Naturally,  when  one  is  going  to  Alaska 
,    for    either    a    definite    or    an    indefinite 
tVapOratCd  TOOtt   (      period,  the  supplying  of  the  wants  of  the 
£$®®®SXs)®®^^  inner  man  is  a  paramount  question.    The 

matter  of  weight  and  freight  is  of  importance.  Those  who  have 
been  up  on  the  Yukon  advise  the  use  of  evaporated  vegetables  such 
as  potatoes,  onions,  carrots,  turnips,  cabbage,  beans,  and  evaporated 
fruits  such  as  prunes,  peaches,  apricots,  pears,  plums,  apples,  raisins, 
etc.  The  firm  of  Haas  Brothers  at  100  and  102  California  street  are 
the  manufacturers  of  the  celebrated  California  Preserve  Company's 
goods,  which  have  been  used  in  Alaska  for  many  years  and  are 
highly  recommended.  They  are  easily  transported  and  are  practi- 
cally as  efficient  as  fresh  vegetables  and  fruit.  This  firm  also  carries 
the  celebrated  Blue  Point  Oysters,  which  are  considered  the  best  in 
the  world.  The  Elephant  Brand  of  Tea  and  Imperial  Ground 
Spices  are  also  specialties  with  this  firm.  They  also  have  the  agency 
for  three  of  the  most  prominent  quicksilver  mines  on  this  coast. 

The  importance  of  obtaining  proper  min- 
ing supplies  cannot  be  over-estimated.  In 
this  respect  the  firm  of  John  Taylor  & 
Co.,  63  First  street,  San  Francisco,  have 
been  long  and  favorably  known.  It  is  the  oldest,  largest  and  most 
extensive  house  that  is  engaged  strictly  in  the  mining  supply  busi- 
ness in  the  United  States.  They  keep  a  full  supply  of  crucibles,  fur- 
naces, assay  scales,  gold  scales  of  all  kinds  and  all  articles  required 
by  a  prospector  up  to  a  quartz  mill,  including  chemicals  and  other 
accessories. 

®(sxsxm)®(«x»)(^^  The  firm  of  Buckingham  and 

\\S/  Hecht     is     widely     known 

'I  RionaiRe  Hoots  ana  Sboes  |   throughout  the  united  states 

®&d®®®$®(*^^  as  manufacturers  of  boots  and 

shoes.  They  have  made  a  specialty  during  the  past  twenty-five 
years  of  boots  and  shoes  for  miners,  and  their  goods  stand  the  sever- 
est test.     They  manufacture  the  seal  waterproof  leather  boot,  the 


mining  Supplies  1 


THE  ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY 


Klondike-  mining  boot,  and  a  complete  line  of  mining,  digging  and 
prospecting-  shoes  particularly  suitable  for  the   Klondike  and  the 

Arctic.     These  arc  their  great  specialties  and  all  of  them  can  be 
relied  upon.    Their  factory  is  one  of  the  largest  in  the  country  and 
every  article  issued  from  it  is  guaranteed.     Their  wholi 
221,  223,  225  and  227  Bush  street.     Kast  and  ( !ompany  at  738  and 
740  Market  street  are  the  retail  distributors  for  the-  firm. 

Miners  and  prospectors  on  the  Yukon 

Bilker   &    fidttliltOtt  %    re(lmrc  more  things  than  the  same  class 
1    of  people  would  need  in  other  mining 

regions.  Warmth  in  their  cabins  by  day 
and  night  is  an  essential  feature  not  to  be  overlooked.  In  this  par- 
ticular it  is  worth  one's  time  to  examine  the  telescoj  iron 
stoves  that  are  manufactured  by  Baker  &  Hamilton,  which  is  one  of 
the  most  prominent  business  firms  in  San  Francisco.  These  stoves 
do  not  warp,  and  suffer  not  in  the  least  from  contraction  or  expan- 
sion. Another  commendable  thing  about  them  is  their  lightness, 
which  enables  them  to  be  carried  to  and  fro  with  ease.  They  weigh 
but  seventeen  pounds.  Baker  &  Hamilton  also  carry  an  extensive 
stock  of  all  kinds  of  miners'  supplies,  such  as  Alaska  freight  sleds, 
Yukon  picks  and  handles,  spring-point  shovels,  Klondike  pit  saws, 
dog  harness,  and  a  thousand  and  one  things  that  are  absolutely 
necessary  in  carrying  on  the  business  of  mining  and  prospecting  in 
the  proper  manner.  These  goods  are  all  manufactured  in  San  Fran- 
cisco under  the  personal  supervision  of  members  of  the  firm,  and 
every  article  is  guaranteed.  The  reputation  of  the  firm  is  such  that 
everyone  purchasing  from  them  may  feel  assured  that  the  goods  in 
every  case  will  be  exactly  as  they  are  represented. 

vxjxv)(s)(5X5Xi)®®®S(s)®@  Doubtless  there  will  be  quite  a  num- 
ber of  people  coming  to  San  Fran- 
cisco on  business  relative  to  the  Vu- 

1  kon  mines  who  will  remain  here  and 
send  their  representatives  to  the  Klondike.  During  their  resielence 
here  they  may  have  a  desire  to  invest  some  of  their  surplus  funds  in 
local  securities  and  bonds,  or  they  may  need  the  services  of  compe- 
tent and  responsible  financial  agents.  Mr.  A.  W.  Blow,  who  for 
many  years  has  been  a  prominent  member  of  the  Stock  and  Bond 
Exchange,  and  Mr.  Sig  B.  Schloss,  are  associated  in  business  under 
the  firm  name  of  A.  W.  Blow  &  Company,  with  offices  at  238  Mont- 
gomery Street,  and  have  the  very  best  facilities  for  the  transaction 
of  any  business  of  a  financial  character. 


ft.  W.  Blow  $  Co. 


HEADQUARTERS    FOR 

Boots  and  Shoes 


FOR   THE 


KLONDIKE. 


RUBBER-SPRING  RUBBER 
BOOT-THE  BEST  MAKE. 


KLONDIKE  MINING. 


ARCTIC  SOX. 


OUR  SEAL  WATERPROOF 
LEATHER  BOOT. 


WOOL  BOOT 
FOR  RUBBER  SHOE. 


OUR  SEAL 
WATERPROOF  BOOT. 


We  have  made  a  specialty  the  past  twenty-five  years 
of  Boots  and  Shoes  for  the  mines. 


BUCKINGHAM  &  HECHT 

221,  223,  225  and  227  Bust)  Street, 
SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. 


KAST  &  COMPANY,     -  =  -     738  and  740  Market  St., 

Retail  Distributors  for  San  Francisco. 


WINCHESTER  RIFLES 


Always  Reliable  and  Up-to-Date. 


New  Styles  and  Calibers  Especially 
Adapted  Tor 

ALASKA 


Repeating    Shotguns,    1897    Model. 
AMMUNITION. 

Illustrated  Catalogue  Sent  Free  by  the 

WINCHESTER  REPEATING  ARMS  CO. 

418  and  420  Market  Street,  San  Francisco, 

PACIFIC   COAST    DEPO  I '. 

Greenebaum,  Weil  &  Michels, 


MEN'S  FURNISHING  GOODS. 


HEADQUARTERS 
FOR 


Complete 
Alaska  Outfits. 


17-19  Sansome  Street,  San  Francisco. 


+  ♦♦♦♦♦♦  +<M>4"H^+++++++++++-+^+»  ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦  ♦+♦+++♦+♦♦♦ 


California 


Blankets. 


OVERSHIRTS.     $ 

—  ♦ 

MACKINAWS.  I 

—  + 
Blanket-lined   | 

Overalls. 
ULSTERS. 

I    SWEATERS. 

SOCKS. 

Sleeping  Bags,  Etc. 


Puny,  trait  i  h.. 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL 


and. 


SEATTLE,  WASH. 


►  ♦♦♦♦♦♦  ■MtMHIHMM  ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦- 


++++++- 


►++++++++>♦++< 


3  for  25  cents. 
10  cents  each. 
2  for  25  cents. 


The  Trade  Supplied  by.... 

The  Wertfieimer  Company, 

CIGAR  JOBBERS. 


115  Battery  St., 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. 


Robert  MANTELL 

...Havana 

CIGARS...  I 

CLEAN —  scrupulous   cleanli- 
ness enforced  at  the  factory. 

t 
PURE —  no    adulteration —  no  f 

drugs — natural  flavor.  t 

FINE — high-grade  Havana  to-  ~t 

bacco,  perfectly  made  up.  X 

UNIFORM— all    alike;    and  $ 

always  alike.  + 

These  are  about  the  only  merits  + 

of  the — et^ 

Write  for  Samples  and  Prices. 


Castle  Brothers, 

200,  202,  204  Davis  Street, 
SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. 


Importers  •  and  •  Commission  •  Merchants 


iamdi_e:rs    or 


California  Dried  Fruits, 

California  Evaporated  Vegetables, 

Coffees  and  Teas. 


Samples  and  Quotations  Furnished  on  Application. 


THE  CALIFORNIA  POWDER  WORKS 

OF^F^ICE  : 

330  Market  Street,  SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. 


Manufacturers  of  Dynamite  ("  Hercules  Powder  ")  Blasting  Powder, 
Sporting  Powders,  Military  Powders  and  Explosives  of  all  grades. 


MACK  &  CO., 

WHOLESALE  DRUGGISTS. 


Drugs, 

Medicines, 

Medicine  Chests 

—  AND  — 

Druggists' 
Sundries. 


WE  ARE  SPECIALLY 
PREPARED  TO  FILL 
ORDERS  FOR  DRUGS 
AND  MEDICINES  USED 
IN  ALASKA,  HAVING 
FOR  YEARS  SUPPLIED 
THAT  TERRITORY  AL- 
II   MOST   EXCLUSIVELY. 


13  and  15  Fremont  St.,  SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. 


Klondike  Outfitters. 


WE  CARRY   A  COMPLETE   STOCK    OF 


Wearing  Apparel  for  the  Klondike 

THE  BEST  OF  EVERYTHING. 


Call  and  Examine  our  Stock. 


Send  for  Price  List. 


THE  RED    FRONT, 

85<T-859  Market  Street,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


BRANCH     STORES 


PORTLAND,  -    -    -    269-271  Morrison  St. 
SEATTLE,     -    -    -    -      615  Second  Avenue. 


Union  Iron  Works, 


SAN  FRANCISCO,   CAL. 


ENGINEERS  ANO  SHIP  BUILDERS 


S.    S.    OREGON. 


HAVE  BUILT  THE  FOLLOWING: 

U.  S.  battle  ships  Oregon  and  Wisconsin, 
U.  S.  coast  defense  vessel  Monterey, 
U.  S.  cruisers  Charleston,  San  Francisco  and  Olympia, 
U.  S.  gunboats  Wheeling  and  Marietta, 
U.  S.  torpedo  boat  Farragut, 
Japanese  cruiser  Chitose, 
P.  M.  S.  S.  Company's  Peru, 
P.  C.  S.  S.  Company's  Pomona  and  Senator, 
Alaska  Commercial  Company's  St.  Paul, 
Wilder  S.  S.  Company's  Helene  and  Maui, 
O.  C  and  N.  Company's  Arago, 
C.  P.  Navigation  Company's  Charmer, 
AND  MANY  OTHERS. 

Mining,  Milling  and  Smelting  Machinery 

K    SPECIRLTY. 


HAAS  BROTHERS, 

Importers 

AMD 

Wholesale  Grocers, 

100, 102  California  Street,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


Telephone,  Front  74. 


New  York  Office,  27  William  Street. 

©  — 

PACKERS  of  the  renowned  CALIFORNIA  PRESERVE  CO'S 

Evaporated  Vegetables :  Potatoes,  Onions,  Carrots,  Turnips,  X 

Cabbages,  Beans,  etc.     Put  up  in  tins,  and  guaranteed  to  keep  f 

for  any  length  of  time  in  any  climate.  1 

DEPOT  of  the  celebrated  Blue  Point  Oysters,  considered  + 

by  connoisseurs  the  best  in  the  world,  in  i-lb.  and  2-lb.  tins,  x 

full  weight.  X 

PROPRIETORS  of  the  well-known  brands  of  "  Elephant ' '  t 

and  "  Blue  Bird"  Green  Teas,  and  the  "Banner"  and  "Sun"  X 

brands    of    English    Breakfast   Tea.      Also   of   the    Imperial  X 

Ground  Spices,  guaranteed  strictly  pure.  X 

SOLE  AGENTS  for  the   Napa  Consolidated    Quicksilver  + 

Mining  Co's  QUICKSILVER.     The  >£tna  Consolidated  Quick-  J 

silver  Mining  Co's  QUICKSILVER.     The  New  Idria  Quicksilver  X 

Mining  Co's  QUICKSILVER.  X 


These  are  all  goods  that  are  necessary  in  an  outfit  for  the  X 
Alaskan  Gold  Fields.     Having  had  many  years'  experience  in 
the  supplying  of  the  Alaska  trade,  we  are  in  position  to  fill  all 
requirements  promptly  and  satisfactorily. 

►  ♦♦♦♦+4 ♦♦++♦ ♦♦»♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 44444++  ■ 


W.  W.  MONTAGUE  &  CO., 

MANUFACTURERS  >>\: 

RIVETED     STEEL    OR     IRON 

Water  Pipe 

For  Hydraulic  Mining,  Irrigating,  Mills,  Power 
Plants  and  Water  Works. 


DEALERS  IN 


MINING  SUPPLIES 


CAMPING  OUTFITS 


SAN    FRANCISCO,  CAL. 


Walter  Baker  &  Co's,  Li, 


a 


(DORCIIHSTKK,    MASS.) 


ocoas 


-and- 


REGISTERED  TRADE    MARK 


Chocolates 


Considered  the  best  health 
sustainer,  and  also  the  best 
adapted  article  for  Alaska. ... 


gtf-  Anyone  going  to  ALASKA 

should  not  be  without... 


Waller  Baker  &  Co's,  L<L 

i  Dorchester,  Mass.) 

Cocoas  *»  Chocolates. 


Z3" 


ArfA  S  OSS 


ISO  lJ  lj 


/=■  O  w£.  i.  L, 


STOCKTOA/ 


pODDDD 


SA/VSOME. 


us  custom naus> 


POSrOFF/CZ 


SAN  FRANGISCO, 


showing  the  Ferry  Landing 
(the  main  gateway  for  all 
travelers  from  the  East),  all 
the  leading  Hotels,  Theatres, 
Postoffice,  Custom  House,  etc. 
But  what  will  interest  Alas- 
ka travelers  most  is  the  loca- 
tion of  the  great  house  of 


TILLMANN&BENDEL, 


the  controlling  head  of  the  Wholesale  Gro 
eery  Trade  of  the  Pacific  Coast ;  manufactu- 
rers of  Spices,  Baking  Powder,  Flavoring 
Extracts  ;  importers  and  roasters  of  Coffee  ; 
proprietors  of  the  Oakland  Preserving 
Co.,  the  leading  packers  of  high-grade  Fruits 
and  Vegetables  in  California. 

Tillmann  &  Bendel  began  business  in  the 
fifties,— the  golden  age  of  California.  For 
many  years  past  they  have  extensively  sup- 
plied Alaskan  trade,  and,  since  the  rush  to 
the  Yukon  began,  have  naturally  become  the 
headquarters  for  Miners'  Provision  Outfits. 
They  are  thoroughly  familiar  with  the  wants 
of  miners  in  the  North.  They  are  firmly 
committed  to  strictly  first-class  goods, — the 
only  kind  that  miners  can  aflord  to  transport 
to  the  distant  North.  The  extent  of  their  trade  and  the  fact  that  they  are  manufacturers 
enables  them  to  offer  the  very  lowest  prices.  The  fine  quality  of  their  special  brands  of 
Coffees,  Teas,  Spices,  Extracts,  Baking  Powder  and  Canned  Goods  has  given  rise  to  the 
popular  expression,  "If  it's  Tillman's  it's  Good." 

Stores:  313-327  Battery  Street.    Coffee  and  Spice  Mills  :  Battery  and  Pacific  Streets. 
Canneries:    Oakland,  Cal. 


ThiE  ALASKA  FREIGHT  SLED 

THE  ONLY  ONE  ON  THE  MARKET. 


The  above  illustration  is  a  correct  reproduction  of  the  only  ALASKA 
FREIGHT  SLED  on  the  market.  This  is  made  from  a  pattern  furnished  by 
\.\w  gentleman  who  took  the  United  States  census  in  Alaska,  and  is  a  reproduc 
tion  of  the  one  that  he  used  in  traveling  thousands  ol  miles  when  taking  the 

census,  aud  in  which- he  carried  his  outfit  and  provisions. 

The  sled  is  much  larger  and  stronger  than  the  "  Yukon  Miner's"  sled. 
It  is  made  entirely  of  oak,  and  at  the  joints,  instead  of  being  riveted,  it  is 
mortised  aud  lashed  with  rawhide  so  that  there  is  not  the  saint-  liability  of 
breakage  as  there  would  be  if  bolted  together.  The  top  hamper  is  made  o! 
oak  interlaced  with  rawhide  and  tarred  marline. 

This  sled  is  not  an  experiment.  It  is  the  kind  the  natives  use,  and  will  be 
found  invaluable  for  transporting  all  kinds  of  merchandise.  It  is  intended  to 
be  used  for  a  dog  team  or  to  be  hauled  by  hand.  The  weight  is  approxim 
75  pounds.  Its  carrying  capacity  varies  from  1,000  to  1,500  pounds,  according 
to  the  material  transported.  We  are  the  only  manufacturers  of  this  kind  of 
sled.     Price  is  $30  each. 

BAKER  &  HAMILTON,  San  Francisco. 


M.  E  WOOSTER. 


WALTER  B.  COOKE. 


Cooke  &  Wooster, 


Advertising  SPEC1ALISTS 
and  Publishers... 


Rooms  23  and  24. 


246  Sutter  Street, 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. 


...COOKE  &  WOOSTER  are  the  compilers  of  this  first 
edition  of  50,000  copies  of  the  "  Klondike  and  Alaska  Gold  Fields." 
Originators  of  unique  ideas  in  high-class  advertising.  If  you  have 
property  or  merchandise  for  sale,  write  to  us  and  we  will  inform 
you  how  to  place  your  propositions  before  prospective  purchasers  at 
the  least  possible  cost. 


ADELSDORFER  &  BRANDENSTEIN, 

PROPRIETORS  OF 

Washington  Manufacturing  Co. 

IMPORTERS   AND   MANUFACTURERS. 

PACKERS   OF  THE  FAMOUS 

Red  Seal  Pickles 

AND 


Nonpareil  Ground  Coffee. 

AGENTS   FOR 

Half    Million    Cigar     -  -  -  -     lO  c. 

Grand    Republic    Cigar       -  -        -5c 


DEALERS   IN 

TEAS,    COFFEES,   SPICES, 
PICKLES,    ETC. 


19  and  21  First  Street,  SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAI.. 

Joshua  Hendy  Machine  Works, 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. 


Office  and  Salesroom,  Nos.  38  to  44  Fremont  Street. 
Works,  Cors.  Bay,  Kearny  and  Francisco  Streets. 


CONTRACTORS  AND  BUILDERS 
OF 


Hydraulic    Mining,   Quartz 


AND 


w  mill  iviacmnery. 


FURNISHERS  OF 


MINING  AND  MILLING  SUPPLIES, 


J.  M.  Litchfield  &  Co., 


Fine— -<-. 

MERCHANT, 
MILITARY 

"•  NAVY 


^<SK 


Tailoring. 


ALSO  HAVE  A  DEPARTMENT 
FOR  THE  MANUFACTURE 
I    AND  SALE  OF  J*  v<  J* 


~K 


Military  and  Navy  Goods, 
No.  \Z.  Post  Street,  Society  Regalias,  Flags, 
San  Francisco,  Cal.  Banners,  Etc. 


12 


Sachs  Bros.  &  Co, 

29-33  Sansome  Street, 
SAN  FRANCISCO. 


MANUFACTURERS   OF 

MEN'S   CALIFORNIA   FLANNEL   UNDERWEAR, 

COTTON  AND  CASSIMERE  OVERSHIRTS, 

FANCY   AND   WHITE   SHIRTS. 


IMPORTERS    OF 

Wool  and  Cotton  Hosiery,  Gloves,  Sweaters,  Men's  and 

Ladies'  Knit  Wool  Underwear,  Knit  Wool  Goods, 

Shawls,  Cotton  Comforters, 

Corsets,   Embroideries,  Laces,  White  Goods,  Ribbons, 

Trimmings,  Cotton  and  Wool  Yarns, 

Elastics,  etc.,  etc. 


Don't  go  to  the  Klondike  without  a  supply  of 


FONTANA  &  GO'S 


OELEBRPITED 


Canned  •  Fruits*  and  •Vegetables. 

"  COLUMBUS  "  BRAND,  "  BALBOA  "  BRAND, 

"  ORO  "  BRAND,  "  COSMOS  "  BRAND, 

«ARMONA"  BRAND,  << SOLAR"  BRAND, 

<<  PALMETTO  "  BRAND,  "  EAGLE  "   BRAND. 


1  pri  Mf&  KivA---^.CpI- 


Largest  Packers  cf  Canned  Fruits  and  Vegetables  in  America. 

Canned  Fruits  of  All  Varieties,  and  the 
Following  Canned  Vegetables: 

CABBAGE,  TURNIPS,  PEAS, 

BEETS,  CAULIFLOWER,  BEANS, 

CARROTS,  SPINACH,  TOMATOES. 

ONIONS, 


FONTANA   &   CO., 

Offices,  134-136  Market  St.,  SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. 


t/his  is  the  UjCCf  toe  recommend. 


S)odge,  Sweeney  &  Co., 


114-116    MARKET   STREET, 
SAN    FRANCISCO,  CAL. 


^Pacific  Coast  jlgents. 


Selby  Smelting  and  Lead  Company. 


OFFICE 


416  Montgomery  Street, 
SAN   FRANCISCO,  CAfc. 

Assayers  and  Refiners  of  Gold  Dust  and  Gold 
and  Silver  Bullion. 


Smelters  of  Gold,  Silver  and  Lead  Ores. 


..    :     v  ^    >  , 


This  Company  has  refined  the  bulk  of  the 
GOLD  shipped  from  the  YUKON  COUNTRY 
during  1897. 

Included  among  its  DEPOSITORS  are  the 
ALASKA  COMMERCIAL  COMPANY  and 
most  of  the  PIONEERS  of  the  KLONDIKE 
DISTRICT,  to  whom  it  refers. 

DEPOSITS  are  paid  for  in  TWENTY- 
FOUR  HOURS  after  receipt. 


WATERPROOF 


Covers, 
S  «^b  DU 

♦ 

IN 


OK, 


Pacific  Coast  Agents 
—  for — 


A.  J.  Tower's  Fish  Brand 

OILED    CLOTHING. 

Jas.    S.  Gary  &  Son 

(ALBERTON  MILLS) 

COTTON    DUCK. 


AMES  &  HARRIS, 

MANUFACTURERS  AND  IMPORTERS, 

100-104  Sacramento  Street,  10-12  North  First  Street, 

SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL.  PORTLAND,  OR 


Oregon  City  Woolen  Mills 


MANUFACTURERS  OF 


KLONDIKE  I  YUKON 
CLOTHING  OUTFITS 


Extra  Heavy  Gray  and  Colored  Blankets,     Wool  Socks,  Gloves  and  Mittens, 

Flannel  Over  and  Under  Wear,  Wool  Sweaters, 

Mackinaws  in  all  Colors,  Heavy  Corduroy  Suits  and  Pants, 


SOLD   WHOLESALE  ONLY   BY 


BROWN   BROS.  &  CO., 

Wholesale  Manufacturers  of  Clothing 
and  Furnishing  Goods, 

121  and   123  Sansome  St.,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 


Are  you 
going  to 


Will  you  use  a  Simonds  Circular  Saw, 
Cross-cut  Saw,  Leather  Belting,  Rubber 
Belting,  Dodge  Wood  Split  Pulleys, 
Emery  Wheels,  or  Marsh  Steam  Pumps? 

When  in   San   Francisco  please  call  and  examine  our  goods. 
First-class  articles  only,  at  reasonable  prices. 

General  catalogue  free  on  application. 

SIMONDS  SAW  CO.  2SSES*. 


Ho,  for  the  Yukon!! 

SProspectors'  Outfits. 


e^. 


<&-} 


G 


>OLD  Scales  and  Weights,  Gold 
Wash  Pans  (Russian  Iron 
and  Polished  Iron),  Gold 
Dust  Blowers,  Miners'  Horns  of 
all  kinds,  Prospecting  Picks,  Gold 
Washers  or  Rockers,  Horseshoe 
Magnets,  Iron  Mortars,  Magnify- 
ing Glasses,  Quicksilver,  Crucibles, 
Acids,  Chemicals,  etc.,  including 
full  supplies  for  Assay ers,  and 
Materials  and  Chemicals  for  quartz 
mills,  etc. 


The  oldest  and  largest 
Mining  Supply  House  in  the 
United  States.  Established 
in  1852. 


JOHN  TAYLOR  &  CO., 

63  First  Street,  San  Francisco,  Cal. 

Importers  and  Dealers  in  Assayers'  Materials,  Mine  and  Mill  Supplies,  etc. 

Don't  forget  it  or  you'll  regret  it. 


P.  &  B.  PAPER  is  a  necessity. 

It  will  keep  your  cabin  warm  and  dry. 


Our  Other  Manufactures 


MANUFACTURED   BY 


(  P.  &  B.  Roofing:, 

(  P.  &  B.  Waterproof  Paints. 

ALL   DEALERS  SEEL  THEM. 


SParaffine  5Paint  Company, 

116  Battery  Street,  SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. 


NANSEN,  in  his 

Polar  Voyage, 

HAD,   AS   PART  OF  HIS 
EQUIPMENT,  THE 


a 


ft 


Primus 
Oil  Stoves 


and  writes  in  "  Farthest  North  "  — 


"  We  took  with  us  rather  more  than  four  gallons  of  petroleum,  and  this 
"  quantity  lasted  us  120  days,  enabling  us  to  cook  two  hot  meals  a  day  and 
"  melt  an  abundance  of  snow  for  water." 


BEING  SAFE,  SIMPLE,  COMPACT,  PORTABLE,  ECONOMICAL,  DURA- 
BLE, EFFICIENT  AND  CLEAN,  THEY  ARE  THE  BEST  STOVES  FOR 
KLONDIKE.  

"Primus"  Braziers'  Torches  use  ordinary  coal  oil,  give 
2,600  degrees  heat,  and  will  thaw  better  than  any  fire  known. 
A  number  already  in  use  at  Klondike.    Send  for  special  circular. 


Klondike  Camp  Stoves, 

Ten  styles  and  sizes  of  sheet-iron  Camp  Stoves  for  use  in 
tents,  log  cabins,  or  in  the  open  air.     Furnished  to  fold  flat,  if 

desired,  for  easy  transportation  on 
sleds  or  pack  animals,  or  arranged 
for  the  oven  to  receive  the  utensils. 


We  have  supplied  the  Alaska  mi- 
ners for  many  years.  Let  us  fit  you 
out  before  you  go. 


Steel  Ranges 

for  large  camps,  cooking  uten- 
sils for  camp  and  cabin. 
Gold  pans,  etc. 

H0LBR00K,  MERRILL  &  STETSON, 

MARKET   AND   BEALE   STS.,    SAN    FRANCISCO. 


HAMBURG-AMERICAN  LINE 

Fast  Twin-screw  Steamships.    Short  Route  to  London,  Paris  and  Hamburg. 
SETHIS   COMPANY   OFFERS    LOW  THROUGH    RATES 
FROM   EUROPE,  (Viasan  francisco,)TO    KLONDIKE,  via  Galveston  service 

HERZOG  &  CO.,  General  pacific  coast  Agents,  401  California  St.,  S.  F. 


Hamburg  -  tmeriean 
Line 

is  the  largest 

Steamship   Com 

pany  in  the 

WORLD. 

Owning 
69  Large  Ocean 

Steamers, 
of  which  l  *.»  are 

Twin-screw 
Steamships. 

Over  304,000 
Tonnage. 

Pacific  Coast 
Agency  : 

401  California  St, 

MM  FRANCISCO,  CAL 


...**» 


laabng  -  kaericai 
Llit 

(N     , 

Regular  Mai! 

(N.  y.  , 

Gal.  ■ 

ice, 
Mont 

•ice, 
Stettin  Service, 
liali; ■ 

ice, 
Mediterranean 

Baltic  Line, 

Union  I.ine. 


Pacific  Coast 

Agency : 
101  California  8t, 

sn  nuicisco,  1  \\.. 


CORRESPONDENTS  AND  CONSIGNEES  FOR  EUROPEAN-KLONDIKE  TRAFFIC. 
Complete    Arrangements    for   those   traveling:  Singly  or  in  Parties. 

KAHN  &  HERZOG,    shipping  and  commission.    FOREIGN  EXCHANGE. 

OVERLAND    TICKET    OFFICE. 
Agency  UNION  PACIFIC-CHICAGO  &  NORTH-WESTERN  Through  Line. 

401  CALIFORNIA  ST.,    cor.  Sansome,    SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. 

YATES  &  CO., 

• MANUFACTURERS  OF —  — • 

PAINTS 

OF    EVERY    DESCRIPTION    FOR    HOUSES,    SHIPS, 
CARRIAGES,    AND    OTHER    USES. 


Varnishes,  Brushes,  White  Lead,  Turpentine,  etc.     A  Complete 
Line  of  Painters'  Material. 


Illuminating  and  Lubricating  Oils. 


OFFICE  AND  SALESROOM: 

206  CALIFORNIA  ST.,  SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. 


Klondike  Specialties 


YUKON  MINERS'  SLEDS. 


Alaska  Freight  Sleds,      Yukon  Picks  and  Handles, 
Klondike  Pit  Saws,      Dog  Harness, 
Spring  Point  Shovels. 


Telescope  Sheet  Iron  Stoves 


Will   Not  Warp. 
Light  and  Practical. 
Weight  only  17  Pounds. 


A  Full  Line  of... 

miners'  tools, 
'hardware, 
edge  tools,  etc. 


Wholesale  House 


OF  THE 

PACIFIC    COAST. 


BAKER  8e  HAMILTON, 

SAN    FRANCISCO,    CALIFORNIA. 


Goodyear's  Rubber  Goods 


for  the 


KLONDIKE. 


HIP  RU8BER  BOOTS  FOR  MINERS. 


"  CRACK  PROOF. 


"  SNAG  PROOf." 


Be  Sure  the  Hekl  is  Stamped  : 


Be  Sure  the  Heel  is  Stamped 


Cuts 
represent 

stamps  on  heels, 
also  knees. 

Beware 

of 
imitations. 


None  Genuine  Unless  Heels  are  Stamped  : 

"  Union  India  Rubber  Co. 
Crack  Proof." 

These  Crack  Proof  Boots  are  made  of  the 
very  best  and  carefully  selected  Pure  l'ara 
Rubber,  reinforced  with  the  Pure  Rubber 
Springs  on  Instep.  All  our  Crack  Proof 
Boots  are  plainly  stamped  on  the  Heel  and 
inside  of  the  Upper,  "Union  India  Rubber 
Co.  Crack  Proof,"  and  no  other  Boot  is 
genuine. 


None  Genuine  Unless  Heels  are  Stamped 

"  Goodyear  Rubber  Co.,  Stout's 
Snag  Proof." 

This  Boot  is  manufactured  with  a  center  of 
Cotton  Duck,  with  Coatings  of  Rubber  so 
incorporated  into  the  fibre  of  the  Duck  by 
heavy  machinery  as  to  make  a  waterproof, 
material  that  staiids  the  severest  test  of  weal 
and  renders  it  next  to  impossible  for  it 
to  be  cut  or  torn  from  contact  with  rough  or 
sharp  surfaces. 


Rubber  and  Oil  Clothing  and  Sacks, 
Rubber  and  Oil  Blankets, 

Rubber  Boots  with  Leather  Soles, 
Wool  Boots  and  Socks, 

High-cut  Overshoes. 


GOODYEAR  RUBBER  COMPANY, 


R.  H.  PEASE. 
Vice-President  and  Manager, 


573,  575,  577,  579  Market  Street, 
SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL. 


73  and  75  First  Street 
PORIUND,  OR. 


Washburn  &  Moen  Mfg.  Co. 


Tramways,  Ropeways,  Cableways. 

BARE  AND  INSULATED 

ELECTRICAL  WIRES. 


Telegraph     and     Telephone    \A/ire 

M.    SPECIALTY. 


The  only  Wire  and  Wire  Rope  Factory  on  the  Pacific  Coast. 

WORKS: 

Worcester,  Mass.  •••  Waukegan,  III.  •••  San  Francisco,  Cal. 

SAN  FRANCISCO  OFFICE:  8  and  10  PINE  STREET. 

FRANK    L.  BROWN,  Pacific  Coast  Agent. 


♦  ♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦•♦•♦♦♦♦♦^♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦■►♦+ 

♦  ♦ 

I  John  A.  Roeblings  Sons  Co.  I 

{  TRENTON,  N.  J. 

t                      ! 

♦  MANUFACTURERS    OF  ♦ 

I  BARE  AND  INSULATED  COPPER  AND  IRON  WIRES  ♦ 

4,.                            Of  Every  Description  and  for  All  Purposes.  + 

\                           —  : 

♦;   Telegraph  and   Telephone  Wire,   Submarine  Armored  ♦ 

t           and     Lead-encased     Cables,     Bi-metallic    Wire,  ♦ 

♦  Rubber-covered  Wire  and  Cables    Aerial  ♦ 

♦  ♦ 

♦  and    Underground— Insulators,  ♦ 

♦  Brackets  and  Pins.  ♦ 

IWIREROPE! 

>                          For  Hoisting,  Logging,  Shipping,  Tramways,  ♦ 

^.                                                             Elevators,  Etc.  X 

I       CABLE  AND  STRAND  FOR  STREET  RAILWAYS,  GUYS,  ETC, 

t  Flat  Strand  Wire  Rope  aND  "Hercules"  Wire 


X  BARB  WIRE,  WIRE  NAILS, 

♦  WIRE   CLOTH   AND    NETTING. 

Roebling's  Patent  Fire  Proof  Stiffened  Wire  Lathing. 


♦ 

♦                                          — — —  ♦ 

♦  Sole  agents  Pacific  Coast  for  IMPERIAL  HIGH  POTENTIAL  > 
t  PORCELAIN  INSULATORS.  Thoroughly  vitrified  and  homogeneous  ♦ 
+  throughout.  Guaranteed  to  stand,  without  puncturing-,  a  salt  water  + 
>  test  of  40,000  volts.    Every  insulator  tested.    Send  for  circular.  ♦ 

+  ♦ 

♦                                                                            + 

♦  PROPRIETORS 

♦  NEW  JERSEY  WIRE  CLOTH  CO.  t 
1                       WEST  COAST  WIRE  AND  IRON  WORKS. 

♦                                                  1 —  ♦ 

♦  ♦ 

♦  25  and  27  Fremont  Street,         -        -        SAN  FRANCISCO,  CAL.  X 

♦  117  and  119  Liberty  Street,  -  -  NEW  YORK,  N.  Y.  * 
X  171  and  173  Lake  Street,  ....  CHICAGO,  ILL.  X 
X  22  Front  Street, PORTLAND,  OREGON.  ♦ 

X  32  South  Water  Street,              -        -        -       CLEVELAND,  OHIO.  X 

♦  ♦ 

♦  ♦ 

♦  ♦♦♦♦>♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦•♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦♦ 


I.  N.  M?  QUE5TEN,  >  Farher  of  Alaska)  Writes 
"Tf&  Royal  Bakikg  Powder  is  the  omly  powder 

THAT  WILL  ENDURE  THE  SEVERE  CLIMATIC  CHAtfGES 
OF  THE  ARCTIC  REGION^  A  MIN6R  WITH  A  CAN  OF 
BAD  BAKING  POWDER  IS  ALMOST  HELPLESS 
IN  ALASKA.  THEREFORE, We  HAVE-  USED 
NOTHING  BUT   ROYAL.  BAKING   POWDE.R.. 


6ERMEA 


..  MUMSS4te  ftfflD.    ] fj  Q0«£AL*Wtt57lllS.iBB). 
GfiRHiEAiwsa  3*mte  £m„     mum.  w»  50  *m.ife  it£»« 

Alaska  .  A  pDSflmVk;  |«R£y^TiWf  somgyir 


THE  ONLY 

Suitable  faR,  Arctic  (un)ate 

J  1 1  CWKRUUVU 


MANllfAClimmHY 

^SperryFiour  Company  ji 

■A|  INAS,  LAL  r\  |T 


CAL1  ^^Nl^%HI:  AT 

$perry  Flour,  Company. 


o. 


-ME/VOIE0RAND 


f  gyulfe 

PEERlESSBlSAHJ* 

EVAPfciiarEfiM 


-♦  ^ 


CREAM 

PEUO0U3,  RICH,  WHOLESOME 

A8S0LU my  awse  milk. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  CALIFORNIA  AT  LOS  ANGELES 

THE  UNIVERSITY  LIBRARY 

This  book  is  DUE  on  the  last  date 

stamped  below 

JUL  B     1%$ 

FEB  2Q1974 

JAN311W 

JUN  12  1992 

Form  L-9 
30>n-l,'41<1122> 

F  931  A32t 


L  006  575  823  7 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRA! 


AA  001  204  087  9 


F931 
A32t 
cop. 2 


} 


